


Crossing the Streams

by TerminalMiraculosis



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: F/F, HDL are having the time of their life, Lesbian disasters, Streamer AU, i invented a whole ass fake video game for this au so you know Im serious, not a lot happens in the first chapter but trust me i have Plans, twitch chat teases webby about being gay for lena 24/7 and lena thinks its just a funny meme, violet is just tired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27407548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerminalMiraculosis/pseuds/TerminalMiraculosis
Summary: When a new video game takes the gaming world by storm, Lena decides to get in on the action, and begins streaming. However, when she randomly queues into a game with one of the most popular streamers on the platform, her life is about to get a whole lot more complicated.Meanwhle, Webby is just trying to find a way to convince her chat that she TOTALLY DOESN'T have a crush on the pretty new girl that she's started streaming with lately. And it would probably be a lot easier if her brothers weren't teasing her about it constantly. And if she wasn't so pretty.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck & Lena & Webby Vanderquack, Lena (Disney: DuckTales) & Violet Sabrewing, Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 173
Kudos: 375





	1. What If We Held Hands In Soloqueue (And We Were Both Girls)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys! Here's my new AU. Okay, a few things I wanna establish here at the start:
> 
> This is a 'normal' AU, so no magic, monsters, or adventures. The triplets and Donald still moved into Scrooge's mansion when they were ten and met Webby, so their relationship is the same, but Lena is a normal girl and was adopted by the Sabrewings pretty early on, and hasn't met Webby or the other kids yet. Additionally, this takes place a while into the future; Webby and Lena are both in the 17-18 range, and Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Violet are a bit younger than that, sitting right around 16. Everything else, though, you'll learn soon enough!
> 
> I really, really love how this AU is turning out, so I hope you guys like it as well!

“Hey guys,” Lena said as she messed around with OBS and her webcam. She could see the stream on her second monitor, and everything  _ looked _ okay. Heroes of Aberrae, the hit new competitive fantasy shooter, was booting up in the background, and she tabbed back into it. 

She glanced over at chat. “Is the sound good?”

**_ThunderMelon:_ ** _ yea _ _  
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ :thumbs_up: _ _  
_ **_lollycake:_ ** _ yes _ _  
_ **_Hellranger:_ ** _ :dogchamp: :dogchamp: _ _  
_ **_plaxstik:_ ** _ sounds good _

“Sweet,” Lena said. 

She had a small audience—only about thirty viewers at the moment—but for how many people had started streaming this game lately, that wasn’t too bad, especially considering that she was  _ super _ late to the party. She’d only been streaming for about a week now, and despite being in the highest skill bracket in the competitive mode, that wasn’t enough to get her noticed in the sea of big streamers.

But honestly, she was fine with that. She wasn’t in it for the money or anything, and she imagined running one of those streams that regularly got 20K viewers could get rather overwhelming. She didn’t really know any of the big names, though—she’d been too busy playing to watch anyone else’s stuff. 

“Let’s get down to business,” Lena said, queueing up for a ranked game. “Hopefully the randos are nice today.” She hadn’t had too many bad experiences with the people in this game, but online games were online games. She’d had to mute her fair share of people.

**_Aoma655:_ ** _ what do u think of the thief buffs _

“I think the Thief buffs are good,” Lena said. “She was complete ass before this patch. I know a lot of people think she’s too annoying now, but, like, that’s the point of her entire character, you know? She’s still more of a distraction than an actual threat, but with the way they changed her backstab, she’s a distraction you actually have to deal with. Before, you could just kind of ignore her.”

**_Lollycake:_ ** _ thief mains rise up :fist: :fist: _ **_  
_ ** **_Plaxstik:_ ** _ her invis cooldown is way too short now _ _  
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ i agree w u shadow _

Lena frowned. “Her invis kind of has to hve a short cooldown, though. She’s gotta use it to get behind the enemy, but then she can’t get out until it comes back on again. Before the patch all the Thief plays I saw would end up trapped with cloak on cooldown and just die. She doesn’t have any other disengagement tools to get her out of tight—oop.”

_ System Message: Competitive game found (Redwood Castle) _

“Redwood Castle, huh?” she mumbled as the map loaded in. “I can work with that. Who do we—pfft.”

**_Hellranger:_ ** _ LMAOOO _ _  
_ **_Breezeburner:_ ** _ wow _ _  
_ **_Hellranger:_ ** _ 4stack pog _

Lena struggled to contain her laughter as she looked at her teammates’ names: Red, Blue, Green, and Pink. 

**_ThunderMelon:_ ** _ lmao nice 4stack _ _  
_ **_LNTbug:_ ** _ soloqueue moment _

“Are you serious?” Lena laughed. She controlled herself, and then activated her push-to-talk. “So, is this like, your gimmick?” she asked over teamspeak as she selected her hero, Warlock. “The whole color coordination thing?”

It was a moment before she got a response, but when she did, it came from Green. “At least we didn’t name ourselves ShadowGirl and then instapick Warlock,” he said.

**_Plaxstik:_ ** _ burned _ _  
_ **_Hellranger:_ ** _ :dogchamp: _

“Don’t be mean,” Pink said. She’d already selected Archer. “I’m sure she’ll do great!”

**_aoma655:_ ** _ don’t listen to him shadow its a cool name _

“I feel like Warlocks always either carry or throw,” Blue said. “Like, there’s no in-between.”

**_LNTbug:_ ** _ facts _ _  
_ **_ThunderMelon:_ ** _ lmao TRUUU _

“Don’t worry, Bluey, I’m one of the good ones,” Lena assured.

Green let out a strangled laugh at ‘Bluey’, and then quickly went off push-to-talk, cutting himself off mid-guffaw. A few seconds later, he selected Thief.

Lena rolled her eyes. “Oh, of  _ course _ he plays Thief. And he was giving me shit about Warlock!”

**_Lollycake:_ ** _ thief mains rise up!! _ _  
_ **_Plaxstik:_ ** _ :unimpressed: of course _

The other two chose their characters: Blue went for Dragonkin, and Red picked Mage. "Well," Lena said. "This is sure to be interesting."

* * *

Webby’s eyes were glued to the screen as she grappled up onto the ramparts above the castle gate. The enemy team was pushing in, and they had already taken out Dewey. She was just equipping her Acid Arrow ability when the killfeed showed Louie getting offed by the enemy Barbarian, accompanied by his quiet “Shit” over the mic.

“What was that about Thief being ‘busted’ now, Green?” Dewey said sarcastically.

“She  _ is,” _ Louie stressed. “I’m just bad.”

Webby saw a flicker of movement past the ruined mill outside the castle gate, and let her arrow fly. It landed just beyond the corner, and left a large pool of sizzling acid behind. Hopefully that would at least pin whoever was back there for a little wild.

“One’s hiding behind mill,” she said over team voice. 

“Three pushing up main too,” Dewey added. “Anyone know where the fifth is?”

“Dead,” said their teammate, ShadowGirl; and, sure enough, the killfeed updated, showing that she’d downed the enemy Werecat. “My wraith’s tracking the one at mill—I’ve got ‘em.”

Suddenly, Huey yelped, and Webby flicked her crosshair over to where he was stationed. “Need help at main!” he called out frantically.

He was shooting his laser blasts as fast as he could, and Webby saw the flash of his lightning bolt go off, but he was getting ganged up on by the enemy Dryad and Dragonkin. Webby steadied her crosshair and fired, her arrow sailing true and catching the Dragonkin right in the head, killing him. It wasn’t enough, though, and Huey quickly died from the Dryad’s rain of thorns. Webby shot another arrow, and nailed the Dryad in the leg, but it wasn’t enough to take her down. Before Webby could fire again, a line of trees shot up across the road, blocking her line of sight.

She cursed under her breath and jumped from the ramparts, throwing down her Hunter’s Trap at the gates and running off to a different vantage point. She managed to spare a glance at the chat.

**_UnicornMagic:_ ** _ damn that aim tho :bluepumped: _ _  
_ **_David34:_ ** _ dryad wall is so bs :unimpressed: _ _  
_ **_DarkHeart:_ ** _ this is the best rando uv gotten in a while _ _  
_ **_Sk8rGrrl subbed! (x3)_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Lmaohorse:_ ** _ bro greens so bad at this game :webbylaugh: :redfacepalm: _

“Thanks for the three months, skater!” Webby said cheerily, before shifting her focus back to the match and opening her team voice. “Dryad walled off main, they’re pushing through market.”

“Mage down,” ShadowGirl said, as the killfeed confirmed her statement. “Gonna hit them on the flank, but they’ll be expecting it.”

“Damn,” Louie said, speaking on their personal channel. “This girl is insane. I was spectating her for that kill, and it was  _ clean.” _

“Maybe you should wait, Shadow?” Huey advised over voice. “Blue’s about to respawn, and Dragonkin has one of the fastest rollouts in the game, so—”

“Nah, we got this,” ShadowGirl interrupted. “Yo Pink, see if you can nail their Barbarian for me. I’ve got Dryad.”

“On it,” Webby said. She kept her eyes on the minimap, and grappled over the side of a wall just as ShadowGirl rounded the corner from behind. The enemy Dryad quickly activated her spore cloud, but Webby was even quicker, letting loose an arrow before the spore cloud spread far enough to affect her aim. Her shot was true, and the arrow split straight through the Barbarian’s skull, sending him to the ground instantly.

Meanwhile, ShadowGirl cast out her hex onto Dryad and then unleashed a fully charged necrotic blast straight at her. Dryad took the hit hard, but quickly retaliated with her vine whip move. However, before the vine could connect, ShadowGirl used her shadow walk ability to teleport behind Dryad, slamming her with a few quick beams of magic that killed her before she could even turn around and start firing. A smoky purple wraith rose up from her corpse, and started floating off towards the enemy spawn.

“Werecat’s respawned already,” ShadowGirl said. “That’s probably who the wraith locked onto. I’m gonna follow it and see if I can get a free kill.”

“I’ll stay on ramparts for now in case she slips past you,” Webby said, running off back to the main castle. 

As it happened, she did not slip past her. ShadowGirl managed to get the kill on Werecat—and then the kill on Dragonkin a few seconds later, and then the kill on Mage a few seconds after  _ that. _ Webby’s chat was going wild.

**_DarkHeart:_ ** _ she’s actually cracked :blueshock: :dogchamp: _ _  
_ **_Kalioak:_ ** _ nerf warlock 2020 _ _  
_ **_BestJess:_ ** _ add her _ _  
_ **_A1u1a:_ ** _ :blueshock: :greenthinking: _ _  
_ **_VenusFlytrap:_ ** _ add her _

“Jeez, is she even gonna leave any for the rest of us?” Louie said. He was running towards the enemy spawn too, having respawned a while ago, but had yet to actually encounter anyone.

Dewey laughed. He and Huey were holding the main objective with Webby, not wanting to give up their positioning. “Honestly! I mean, this is crazy.”

“Oh my god,” Louie said. “They’re all leaving spawn together now. They’re  _ scared.” _

Huey relayed that information to ShadowGirl over the voice chat, and suggested she fall back for now; she complied, deciding to hide out behind one of the little houses on the outskirts of the map.

“Wait wait wait, I’ve got my Secret Technique charged,” ShadowGirl said. “Green, can you poison one and then cloak away?”

“Oh my god, you’re evil,” Louie said. “Okay, I got Barbarian with it. I’m hiding over by the blacksmith.”

“I’m going in,” ShadowGirl said.

“We should push them as soon as Shadow ults,” Webby said over their personal chat, jumping off the ramparts.

“Push them? We’re on defense!” Huey protested. “That’s absolutely  _ not _ what you’re supposed to do on defense!”

“Look at the time, though,” Webby said. “If we stuff them out here, we win.”

“I’m in,” Dewey said.

“Of  _ course _ you’re in,” Huey said with a sigh. “You love rushing. I think—”

“Hexed him,” ShadowGirl cut in, which is honestly what they deserved for talking outside of team voice like that. “Running back to you to use ult. Pink, cover me.”

“You’re covered!” Webby chirped, throwing her trap down next to Shadow and then grappling up to a nearby rooftop to stand guard. “Go get ‘em.”

ShadowGirl activated her secret technique: it allowed her to take control of the whichever enemy she had hexed for a short period of time. The plan was to walk him all the way over to Louie; since the poison would already have him at half health, Louie’s backstab move should kill him in one shot.

But before they could pull it off, Webby caught sight of the enemy Werecat moving in on ShadowGirl’s abandoned body. Fortunately, Werecat stepped in her trap, metal jaws clamping up and securing her in place—from there, Webby easily lined up a headshot, taking her down for good. At the same time, the killfeed displayed Louie getting the backstab kill on the enemy Barbarian, and ShadowGirl returned to her regular body. The three of them all converged on where Dewey and Huey were fighting the rest of the enemy team, and it wasn’t long before they had wiped them all out, without a single one of them dying. 

_ “Team Kill!” _ exclaimed the announcer.

And just like that, the game timer ticked down to zero, securing their victory. 

“Let’s go!” Dewey shouted. “That was clean!”

“Only because our Warlock carried us,” Huey said. “Look at the scoreboard.”

Webby pulled up the match scoreboard and gawked; normally, she was the one who got the most kills on their team, but this time ShadowGirl was leading her by six frags. “Holy crap,” she muttered.

“Good game,” was all ShadowGirl said over team voice.

“Good game,” Webby returned, sparing a glance at chat. It was going as fast as she’d ever seen it.

**_JelloMuffin:_ ** _ add her _ _  
_ **_Kayleighplays:_ ** _ goddamn _ _  
_ **_C4ctu5:_ ** _ :blueshock: yo shes insane _ _  
_ **_$5 Tip from Haxelia:_ ** _ add her _ _  
_ **_Bluehelix:_ ** _ add her :bluepumped: _ _  
_ **_Waaaaz:_ ** _ webs got some competition :greensmirk: _ _  
_ **_ElectroHands is a new sub!_ ** _  
_ **_$10 Tip from GlaxxyYT:_ ** _ add her _

Webby’s eyes widened. “Wow, guys, that’s a lot of donations, I—” She let out a disbelieving laugh. “Thanks for the sub Electro, welcome to the Web. Thanks for the tips Haxelia and Glaxxy—oh, and another from Brandon—okay, seriously, slow down!”

“You good, Webby?” Louie asked.

“Chat’s going  _ crazy,” _ Webby said. “They want me to add ShadowGirl.”

“Like, to queue up with her again?” Huey pondered. “I mean, I wouldn’t complain. That was the best game we had all day.”

“Oh my god,” Webby said, laughing despite herself. She right clicked on ShadowGirl’s profile, hovering over the ‘add friend’ button. “Oh my god. Should I do it?”

Dewey chuckled. “I’m down!”

“Do it for the content, Webs,” Louie said.

“Oh my god. Okay. We’ll see if she even responds, I guess.” Webby clicked.

_ System message: Friend request sent successfully. _

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Warlock**

_ “What a beautiful soul… I’ll be sure not to waste it.” _ —Warlock (after killing a Hexed enemy)

Class: Arcane

  * Arcane heroes fight with spells and magic rather than traditional weaponry. They have more unusual abilities that drastically change the way you have to play the character. In the right hands, these heroes can singlehandedly turn the tide of battle.



Role: Saboteur

  * Saboteurs appear when you least expect it, harassing the enemy team from flanks and off angles. They specialize in singling out vulnerable targets, taking them out in devastating surprise attacks, and then vanishing before they can get ganged up on.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Necrotic Bolt

  * Warlock shoots a small bolt of condensed necrotic energy from her fingertips. The attack has a relatively fast fire rate and deals average damage.



Alt Fire: Necrotic Blast

  * Warlock charges up a ball of condensed necrotic energy and then shoots it out. Damage and projectile speed scale with the amount the blast was charged.



Primary Ability: Hex

  * Warlock instantly Hexes an enemy Hero. Hexed enemies take 20% more damage from Warlock’s attacks, and can be seen by Warlock through walls. When Warlock kills a Hexed enemy, a Wraith spawns where they died. Wraiths seek out the nearest enemy Hero and apply Nearsighted for 3s, as well as Hexing them automatically, upon contact. Warlock can press Primary Ability again to Recall Hex; this will allow her to hex a new target. If Warlock Recalls Hex while a Wraith is alive, the Wraith will be destroyed, and Warlock will regenerate 100 HP over 5s.



Secondary Ability: Shadow Walk

  * Warlock dissolves into shadows and reappears a short distance away. Useful for dodging attacks and moving to unexpected locations. 5s cooldown.



Secret Technique: Dark Puppeteer

  * Warlock leaves her body behind and assumes control of whichever enemy Hero is currently Hexed. The possessed Hero is unable to attack or use abilities. The spell is broken when the possessed Hero dies, if Warlock’s body dies, or after 5s. This ability charges up slowly over time.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you can see I'm gonna be closing chapters with these wiki-page-esque summaries of the in-game characters, because I'm a nerd and I wrote them all out anyway and I figured some people might be interested. If you don't care, just skip them, they're not plot-relevant or anything like that. The game is... probably most similar to, like, Overwatch? But also I've been playing a lot of Valorant lately so there's some stuff from that mixed in. If you have no clue what I'm talking about then, like, you'll probably still be fine, honestly. I tried my best to make this accessible.
> 
> I'm gonna try to hit weekly updates for this fic, but I'm not going to be super strict with myself because I've got some other stuff going on right now, but that's at least the plan. See you guys later!!


	2. The Most Ambitious Crossover in Streaming History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> System Message: ShadowGirl has accepted your friend request.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I was really happy and a bit surprised to see how well-received this fic was by you guys. I'm super glad, because I'm vey excited for the rest of it! Anyway, I hope you enjoy :D

“Whew,” Lena said, leaning back in her chair to stretch. “That was a good game.”

**_Lollycake:_ ** _ the puppeteer backstab combo tho :dogchamp: _ **_  
_ ** **_LNTbug:_ ** _ that archer was goated _

“Oh, she was crazy,” Lena agreed. “I know I got more kills, but she was really holding things down for me. Honestly, I didn’t deserve all those spawn kills.”

**_Breezeburner:_ ** _ the spawncamping was gross dude _ _   
_ **_Hellbringer:_ ** _ gotta get good _

“Yeah, I mean, if they’re bad enough that I can spawncamp them, that’s their problem,” Lena said. “Alright, let’s go.”

She was about to queue up for another match, but then her headphones made a little chirp sound, and a notification appeared over the social tab. She raised an eyebrow, and clicked.

“Oh my god,” she said, unable to suppress a laugh as she saw that ‘Pink’ had sent her a friend request.

**_ThunderMelon:_ ** _ lmaoooo _ _   
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ oh my god _ _   
_ **_Hellbringer:_ ** _ :dogchamp: :dogchamp: _ _   
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _ Oh you gotta _

Lena snickered. “Is this happening? Okay. Okay, hold on.”

_ System message: Friend added. _

* * *

_ (PM) Pink:  _ Hey! You were really good back there

_ (PM) ShadowGirl:  _ thanks, u were pretty good yourself

_ (PM) Pink: _ Thanks!!

_ (PM) Pink: _ Do you wanna queue up with us? I think we’d make a pretty good team!

_ (PM) ShadowGirl is typing…  _

_ (PM) ShadowGirl:  _ ajdkajsdgfds i mean id be down

_ (PM) Pink: _ :D!

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ u should know tho that im livestreaming rn

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ just in case that makes u uncomfortable

_ (PM) Pink is typing…  _

_ (PM) Pink: _ Oh no that’s fine! That’s super cool actually!

_ (PM) Pink: _ What’s your stream?

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ same user as here. im not very big yet

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ why u gonna stop by lmao

* * *

“I’m not sure about this, Green,” Webby said, even as she pulled up a new tab in her browser. “Shouldn’t I tell her that I’m also a streamer?”

“Oh, she’ll find out soon enough,” Louie said. He had that lilt to his voice that he got whenever he was scheming. “We’re gonna raid her.”

**_DragonSword35:_ ** _ Yessss raid!! _ _   
_ **_PeachySky:_ ** _ on her stream rn shes got like 60 viewers :greenthinking: _

“Isn’t that a little mean?” Huey asked.

“Are you kidding? She’s about to get more donations than she’s gotten in her life,” Louie said.

**_WebbyFan11:_ ** _ lets make her FUCKING day!! _ _   
_ **_Kangarooz:_ ** _ she’s still waiting for you to respond btw _ _   
_ **_BoostedBear:_ ** _ good vibes army incoming :sparkles: :webbysmile: :sparkles: _

“Oh, shoot,” Webby mumbled under her breath, alt-tabbing back to Heroes of Aberrae.

_ (PM) Pink:  _ Maybe I will!!

Dewey laughed. “Oh, this is gonna be good. Do you think she knows Webby?”

“Not well enough to recognize her voice, clearly,” Louie said. “She might recognize the username though.”

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ lmao okay

“I just don’t want to overwhelm her,” Webby said. 

**_BestJess:_ ** _ webby ur so wholesome _ _   
_ **_Arch3rMain:_ ** _ overwhelm her with love and kindness! _ _   
_ **_Hoopsman:_ ** _ raid raid raid :bluepumped: _

The stream page loaded in, and Webby took a look. ShadowGirl had a pretty standard setup, with a small donation tracker on the bottom of the screen (she hadn’t gotten any donations yet, but according to the stats she’d only been streaming for half an hour or so) and a facecam in the top left. She was hovering at about 80 viewers, and it was steadily trickling up, no doubt from Webby’s stream.

“Okay, guys, stop joining her stream,” Louie instructed. “She’s gonna notice.”

“Isn’t that the point?” Dewey asked.

“We should wait until we actually raid her,” Huey said.

“Oh, wow, she’s really pretty,” Webby mumbled, staring at ShadowGirl’s facecam. She had beautiful pink-dyed hair swooped across half of her face, winged eyeliner, and a soft purple eyeshadow. She laughed at something in chat, and Webby felt herself smiling. 

“…What?” Huey asked.

**_Hullabear:_ ** _ gay!!!! :webbylaugh: _ _   
_ **_TetheredUmbra:_ ** _ :redfacepalm: _ _   
_ **_PeachySky:_ ** :greensmirk: :greensmirk: :greensmirk: :greensmirk: :greensmirk:

Webby felt her cheeks heating up. “SHOOT did I say that out loud? I-I mean—um—”

Dewey started cackling. “Oh my  _ god!” _

Louie just sighed. “Webby, you’re hopeless.”

**_Arch3rMain:_ ** _ webby thats gay _   
**_GlaxxyYT:_ ** _ :lesbianprideflag: :lesbianheart: _ _   
_ **_Kangarooz:_ ** _ okay but shes right tho _

_ “Wow, I’ve gotten a lot of new viewers actually,” _ ShadowGirl said on her stream, catching Webby’s attention.  _ “Pink and her friends have to be in here, then, right? Alright, chat, be on your best behavior. We’ve got guests over.” _

“Okay, okay,” Webby said, calming herself down and typing something into ShadowGirl’s chat. “Here we go.”

* * *

“Okay, chat, be on your best behavior. We’ve got guests over,” Lena said.

**_Plaxstik:_ ** _ :angry: ur not my mom _ _   
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _ we’re always on our best behavior! _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Hey ShadowGirl!! I’m Pink! _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby is a new sub!_ **

Lena perked up. “Oh, hey! I thought you might be around. Thanks so much for the sub, you didn’t have to do that.” She paused, pursing her lips. “Is… Okay this is weird but I think I’ve seen your username somewhere before?”

**_Aoma655:_ ** _ wait _ _   
_ **_Hellbringer:_ ** _ WTF _ _   
_ **_ThunderMelon:_ ** _ :blueshock: :blueshock: omg hi!!!!! :webbysmile: _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ asjdhfhjgdsa _

“Wait, wait, what the fuck is happening?” Lena asked.

**_LNTbug:_ ** _ for real??? You were in a lobby with spiderwebby?!?!? _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ hi <3 _ _   
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ omg _ _   
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _ wait whats going on _

“Yeah, I’m with Lolly,” Lena said. “I’m so lost. I feel like I accidentally invited a vampire into my house or something.”

**_Hellbringer:_ ** _ :dogchamp: :dogchamp: _ _   
_ **_ThunderMelon:_ ** _ webby i love ur stream sm!!!! Aaaaaa :blueshock: :bluepumped: _

“Oh, shit, you stream too?” Lena asked. “Well now I feel stupid.”

**_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Sadly I am not a vampire :pensive: _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Also thank you melon!! _ _   
_ **_LNTbug:_ ** _ this is crazy _ _   
_ **_Plaxtik:_ ** _ omg wait like. THE spiderwebby? _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Okay, ShadowGirl, brace yourself! _

Lena raised an eyebrow. “Brace myself for what?”

**_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ here we gooooooo!! _ _   
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _ what is happening _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby RAIDED ShadowGirl (8,067 viewers)!_ **

Lena’s jaw dropped. “Wh—but—who— _ eight thousand?! _ ”

**_UnicornMagic:_ ** _ raiiiiiiiiid!!!!!!!! :redangry: :redangry: _ _   
_ **_Axelbak:_ ** _ :lesbianheart: :lesbianheart: :greensmirk: _ _   
_ **_Pinwh33l is a new sub!_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Arch3rMain:_ ** _ raid raid raid :bluepumped:  _ _   
_ **_WebbyFan11 is a new sub!_ ** **_  
_ ** **_DrJuice:_ ** _ Shadow that was such a good play w puppeteer _

“Oh my god.” Lena swallowed. “Oh my god. Thank you for the subs pinwheel and webbyfan, I—oh my god—”

**_Kangarooz is a new sub!_** ** _  
_** ** _Beatwix:_** _:heart: remember to stay hydrated!!_ _  
_ ** _$5 tip from WebbyFan11:_** _You have such pretty hair! :webbysmile:_ _  
_ ** _Excalibrate is a new sub!_** ** _  
_** ** _Lollycake:_** _OMG???? A RAID????_ _  
_ ** _HungeryBoy:_** _WEBBY THINKS UR PRETTY_ _  
_ ** _NeonSunrise is a new sub!_** ** _  
_** ** _Klaustrophobe:_** _hey im tryn to learn warlock do u have tips?_ _  
_ ** _SpiderWebby:_** _SDKJFKSDJF NO SHUT UP!! :redangry:_ ** _  
_** ** _Axolottimus:_** _ur such a good player! :webbysmile:_

“Thank you, oh my god, I’m—” Lena broke into a disbelieving smile, letting her forehead fall against her hand, propped up on her desk by her elbow. “I don’t even know what to say. This is absurd. Thank all of you so much, I’m—I’m having trouble keeping up with chat right now.”

**_$10 tip from PeachySky:_ ** _ Webby said she thinks ur cute! _ _   
_ **_Xtraa420:_ ** _ RAIIDDDDDD :bluepumped: _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Nooooooo!!!! :flushed: :redangry: :redangry: _ _   
_ **_GlaxxyYT is a new sub!_ ** **_  
_ ** **_HammedBorgor:_ ** _ What hair dye do u use :0 its so pretty _

“Okay, sorry, um—hold on let me read these donations,” Lena said. “Thanks for the sub kangaroos, thanks for the tip webbyfan, who says they like my hair. Thanks, I also like my hair, it fucking slaps—thanks for the subs excalibrate and neon sunrise, thanks for the tip PeachySky, who says Webby thinks I’m cu—” Lena paused, eyes widening. “What?”

**_Aoma655:_ ** _ OMG _ _   
_ **_Halfwitt:_ ** _ :redfacepalm: i cant with this _ _   
_ **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _ :lesbianprideflag: ITS HAPPENING _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ adsjhkfashdgfjadsfs i hate you all _ _   
_ **_Kornflower:_ ** _ hey shadow are u into girls :greenthinking: _

Lena blinked a few times. “Um—thank you, uh, glaxxy, for the sub…”

**_$5 tip from SchemesInGreen:_ ** _ Hello ShadowGirl. It’s me, Green. My sister thinks you’re pretty. _ _   
_ **_SnowGoddess:_ ** _ lmaooo :webbylaugh: _ _   
_ **_Sharkii:_ ** _ omg hi Green!! _ _   
_ **_TetheredUmbra:_ ** _ BIG :greensmirk: MOMENT _ _   
_ **_$5 tip from SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Don’t listen to them! I’m here for your pro gaming skills and nothing else I swear!! _

“I’m… I feel like I’m being pranked,” Lena said. “What is happening. What is  _ actually _ happening.”

* * *

“LOUIE!” Webby screeched, her hands flying across the keyboard, her face bright red. At least with the raid sending her chat over to ShadowGirl’s stream, nobody was able to hear them right now, so she could scream at Louie properly without having to call him by his screen name. “LOUIE I’LL KILL YOU!”

**_$5 tip from SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Don’t listen to them! I’m here for your pro gaming skills and nothing else I swear! _

“Whaaat?” Louie asked innocently. “I’m just trying to help out!”

“You’re betraying me! You’re taking your filthy little Thief-maining hands and stabbing me in the back!”

Dewey still hadn’t stopped laughing. “You—You—Oh, this is too good.”

_ “I… I feel like I’m being pranked,” _ ShadowGirl said on her stream.  _ “What is happening. What is  _ actually _ happening.” _

**_Beatwix:_ ** _ The prank is… that we love you!! :heart: _ _   
_ **_NeonSunrise:_ ** _ :webbylaugh: :webbylaugh: _ _   
_ **_Axelbak:_ ** _ No prank she actually said that _ _   
_ **_$5 from WellReadInRed:_ ** _ Hello ShadowGirl; it’s Red. If you want some context you can try googling SpiderWebby. She has a wiki page. _

“There,” Huey said. “That should help her.”

“Pff, nerd,” Louie said. “A wiki page that you  _ wrote.” _

**_Jagaclaga:_ ** _ o hi red _ _   
_ **_WebbyFan11:_ ** _ our girl is FAMOUS! _

“Which is why it’s so informative!” Huey protested.

“Thanks, Huey,” Webby said, letting out a sigh. “At least I have  _ one _ brother who feels like being nice today.”

_ “You guys are, like, the most wholesome chat ever,”  _ ShadowGirl mused.  _ “Also thanks for the tip, Red. Lemme check that out.” _

“Ooooh, she’s reading your  _ wiki  _ page,” Dewey teased. “How romaaaantic!”

“I’ll murder you in your sleep,” Webby hissed.

* * *

“Let’s see…” Lena let out a breath, pulling the wiki page up onto the stream. She cleared her throat and began to read aloud. “‘SpiderWebby, often known as just Webby, is a popular Wingz.tv video game streamer. She began her streaming career in Duckstruction Online but moved to Heroes of Aberrae when the game released, where she found her fame. The SpiderWebby channel is the third most-followed and second most-subscribed channel in the Heroes of Aberrae category on Wingz.tv. Webby is known for her skilled gameplay, positive community, and entertaining commentary. Webby is frequently joined on her channel by her younger brothers Red, Blue, and Green, who are triplets. Neither Webby nor her brothers have revealed their real-life names or shown their faces on stream, and instead use stylized cartoon drawings of themselves for channel emotes, promotional materials, and merchandising.’ Huh. Mysterious.” She blinked, and turned to chat. “Yo, Pink, how much does it suck having triplets as younger brothers?”

**_Hellbringer:_ ** _ lmaooo _ _   
_ **_CoolInBlue:_ ** _ excuse you :redangry: _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ It sucks a negative amount! I love them :heart: _ _   
_ **_Herra642:_ ** _ :webbylaugh: _ _   
_ **_PaperWait is a new sub!_ ** _   
_ **_GlaxxyYT:_ ** _ o i didnt know u played duckstruction _ _   
_ **_WellReadInRed:_ ** _ :heart: _ _   
_ **_VioletSabrewing:_ ** _ Oh my lord. What is happening in here. _ _   
_ **_FalseGlyph:_ ** _ awww :toocute: _ _   
_ **_$5 tip from SchemesInGreen:_ ** _ the real question is does she love us as much as she loves u :greenthinking: _ _   
_ **_CoolInBlue:_ ** _ DSJFKHJGSDFGSDGFHJGSD _ _   
_ **_Hullabear:_ ** _ :greensmirk: :lesbianprideflag: :greensmirk: _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ Breaking news: I take everything back! I hate Green. Green sucks _

Lena laughed. “Wow. Okay, chat is going way too fast, but I just want to say that there’s no need to be embarrassed, Webby. I’m extremely alluring. I’m not surprised that even a girl of your magnificent internet clout would succumb to my charms so easily.”

**_Arch3rMain:_ ** _ omgggggg _ _   
_ **_SchemesInGreen:_ ** _ oh i like her _ _   
_ **_Severa6:_ ** _ :webbylaugh: this is so good _ _   
_ **_SpiderWebby:_ ** _ So anyway guys Aberrae huh. Fun game _ _   
_ **_SchemesInGreen:_ ** _ can we keep her _ _   
_ **_Xtraa420:_ ** _ :greenthinking: _ _   
_ **_$5 tip from Axeltak:_ ** _ :lesbianheart: :bluepumped: _

Lena laughed harder. “Joking! I’m joking. But, yeah, are we gonna play together or not?”

**_CoolInBlue:_ ** _ trying to run away huh webby _ **_  
_ ** **_VioletSabrewing:_ ** _ I don’t think you’ll even be able to read this. Perhaps I shall inquire later. Congratulations nonetheless. _ _   
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ You guys should all get in a call and play! _ _   
_ **_InstaLox is a new sub!_ ** **_  
_ ** **_WellReadInRed:_ ** _ Yeah, we should play. Hold on. _

Unable to keep up with chat at the moment, Lena began reading out thank-yous to donors and subs. After a few seconds, she got another friend request on Aberrae, this time from Red. She checked her stream, but Webby’s wikipedia article was still the displayed tab, so she accepted the request.

_ System message: Friend added. _

_ (PM) Red: _ Hello again. Sorry about… all of that

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ lmao ur fine its rlly funny. also ive made like $50 already so im not complaining

_ (PM) Red: _ Right, haha

_ (PM) Red:  _ Would you like to join our disbird call? That way we could all talk and play together

_ (PM) Red: _ Webby’s probably gonna keep the raid going for the rest of the time we play though to get you more traffic and stuff.

_ (PM) ShadowGirl is typing…  _

Lena brought a thoughtful hand up to her chin, then remembered where she was and smiled at the camera, glancing at chat and cracking a joke so she didn’t seem too out of it. This was just… all happening so suddenly.

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ i mean sure but i dont see why u guys are so interested in me?

_ (PM) ShadowGirl: _ like rnt u guys big time streamers and shit. im just sitting here u kno

_ (PM) Red: _ Sigh. Yeah I was worried we might be coming on too strong

_ (PM) Red is typing…  _

_ (PM) Red: _ We were just really impressed with your gameplay and our chat wanted Webby to add you so she did. And then Green had the idea to raid you once we learned you were a streamer. But I mean, you seem really chill, and honestly we’ve been looking for a fifth person to round out the team for a while now. I think it could be fun?

_ (PM) ShadowGirl:  _ then yeah lets do it. My disbird is ShadowGirl#5504

_ (PM) Red:  _ Sweet! Inviting you now.

Lena turned back to the stream and smiled. It looked like Webby had turned the topic in chat around, and they were now teasing Green for playing Thief. “Alright, guys,” she said. “I’m gonna try to get these four nerds onto the stream with me, and then we’re gonna get back to actually, you know, playing video games.”

**_Aoma655:_ ** _ im… this is so surreal _ _   
_ **_ThunderMelon:_ ** _ most ambitious crossover in history :dogchamp: _ _   
_ **_Sharkii:_ ** _ only red is a nerd _ _   
_ **_Hoopsman:_ ** _ no no shes right _

She fiddled with her stream audio for a bit, and then accepted Red’s invite over Disbird. ‘SeniorSeniorWoodchuck’ was his name on here, interestingly enough. Lena gave it a mental shrug before joining the call.

“Hello?”

“Okay,” Webby said immediately, before any of her brothers could speak, “look, I  _ did _ say you were pretty, but  _ I didn’t mean it that way!” _

Lena barked out a laugh as chat got even wilder. “No, no, yeah, I get it. So y’all wanna queue up or what?”

“Please,” Webby said tiredly, clearly thankful for the save.

_ System Message:  _ _ Pink _ _ has invited you to join their party. _

_ System Message: Party joined. _

_ System Message: Party leader queued for competitive matchmaking. Please wait… _

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Archer**

_ “Set ‘em up, knock ‘em down!” _ —Archer (after landing a Headshot on an Ensnared enemy) 

Class: Martial

  * Martial heroes fight with weaponry and skill, using a minimal amount of magic. Their skills tend to be more straightforward and reliable, but less versatile. These heroes tend to be easier on newer players, but also reward veterans with toolkits that nicely complement raw technical skill.



Role: Keeper

  * Keepers excel at holding down an area, preventing the enemy team from pushing forwards. They can sometimes struggle offensively, but if you’re attacking an area held by a Keeper, you better have a plan.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Longbow

  * Archer attacks with a slow but powerful bow and arrow with no damage falloff at long range. Landing a Headshot with the longbow will deal double damage, enough to kill most Heroes in one shot.



Alt Fire: Hookshot

  * Archer shoots out a grappling hook that allows her to climb up to advantageous or unexpected vantage points on the map. 4s cooldown.



Primary Ability: Acid Arrow

  * Archer equips an Acid Arrow, which will be launched with the next Primary Fire. Wherever the Acid Arrow lands, a pool of damaging acid that lasts 5s will spill onto the ground. Additionally, Acid Arrow will bounce off walls until it hits the ground. If Acid Arrow hits an enemy Hero, it will deal regular arrow damage as well as spawn the pool at their feet. 10s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Hunter’s trap

  * Archer places a hidden trap that Ensnares the first enemy to step on it for 3s. Ensnared enemies cannot move or use abilities. Only one trap can exist at a time. 20s cooldown.



Secret Technique: Hail Of Arrows

  * Applies Hail Of Arrows buff to self for 10s. While affected by Hail Of Arrows, Archer’s Primary Fire shoots at three times the speed. This ability charges up slowly over time.




	3. Go Pro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena makes waves.

Webby raced across the bridge that led to the final capture point: the big cathedral at the edge of Mount Lux Village, the current map. Dewey was using Dragonkin’s wings to dash forward ahead of her, and Huey followed a ways behind them.

“Any intel, Green?” Webby asked.

“Most of them are just holding default,” Louie said, cloaked behind the enemy team. “Their Archer’s up in belltower, their Barbarian and Dragonkin are guarding the point, and their Priest is back by the altar. No clue about their Werecat.”

“I can get Archer,” ShadowGirl said. “I’m on her in like… ten seconds.”

Webby heard Dewey’s character let out a grunt of pain as an arrow connected with his torso. “Could you make that any faster?” he called. “She’s shooting us!”

“Learn to dodge, then!” Shadow returned. “You literally have a dash move!”

Dewey sighed. “Yeah, yeah.”

True to her word, though, the arrows stopped flying as Shadow reached the belltower and engaged with their Archer. Not long after that, Dewey reached the entrance to the cathedral and zoomed on in. 

“Green, now!” Huey shouted.

“On it!” Louie replied, and Webby immediately heard the voice line for Thief’s secret technique, Poison Bomb. “Got Barb and Dragon with it. Also got a backstab off on Priest, so he’s low. Might try to heal though.”

“Priests do like healing,” Webby said, eyes flicking to the corner of her screen as Shadow got the kill off on Archer. “Don’t worry, this should be easy. I’ve got Hail Of Arrows ready as well.”

“Oh,” Shadow said. “Well, yeah, we win then. You’re absolutely broken with that thing.”

“Just watch out for Werecat,” Louie reminded them. “Also, I’m super dead, so don’t let my sacrifice be in vain.”

“Is he always that dramatic?” Shadow asked as the killfeed showed Louie fall to the enemy Dragonkin.

“Yes,” Huey said.

The three of them broke onto the point, and Webby activated her Hail Of Arrows. Dewey immediately charged the enemy Dragonkin, and that whole half of the point suddenly filled up with an absurd amount of fire as the two of them began to fight. Huey dove in to help Dewey, while Webby started firing at the Barbarian, landing the first arrow in his chest and the second in his head, killing him before he could even reach her. The priest, who had been trying to heal up from Louie’s ambush, cancelled his spell to fire onto Webby. Before he could do anything more than some light damage, however, Webby sent an arrow straight through his skull, pinning his ragdoll to the cathedral’s wall. 

At the same time, Dewey finally got the kill on the enemy Dragonkin, letting out a triumphant “Ha!” as he did so. It was a bit drowned out, however, by Huey’s frantic scream as the last enemy, Werecat, snuck up behind them and pounced at Huey. He was already injured from Dragonkin and died fast, but Webby followed up with another arrow right as her secret technique ran out, and Werecat let out a scream of pain as it caught her in the leg. From there, it didn’t take long for Dewey to dash in and finish her off with a stream of fire breath.

The Archer had respawned by this point, but Shadow was there to meet her, and easily killed her right outside of enemy spawn. God; Webby couldn’t _imagine_ how obnoxious it must be to fight _against_ Shadow. She was… scary.

They quickly captured the point, and as ‘Victory!’ flashed across the screen, Dewey let out a whoop of delight. “Another dub! let’s go!”

“Thank you for avenging me,” Louie said.

“Whew,” Huey said with a sigh as the match scoreboard showed back up. Webby was the MVP this time, beating out Shadow by a few kills. They’d been going back and forth all night, except for one game where Dewey had really gone crazy and beaten them both. “Okay, I think I’m done playing for tonight.”

“Same,” Louie said. “This was good, though.”

“Yeah!” Dewey agreed. “You’re a lot of fun, Shadow.”

“And absurdly skilled,” Huey added.

Shadow laughed. “Thanks. You know, I never thought I’d be saying this, but I have to thank soloqueue for putting me in with you guys. You really made my night.” She paused. “Well, honestly, probably my whole year. This is more viewers than I’d ever thought I’d have, like, ever.”

“You deserve them!” Webby said cheerily. “You’re an amazing player, and an even _more_ amazing person!”

“Don’t forget how pretty she is,” Louie snarked.

Webby felt her cheeks heating up again. Ugh; she should _really_ be used to this after how long they’d been playing, but for some reason it kept making her blush. This is why she was glad she didn’t use a face cam.

“Oh, no!” Shadow cried, letting out a bright laugh. “Oh my god, Green, you just set chat off again. They’re bringing the whole SpiderShadow thing back.”

“NOOOOOOO!” Webby wailed, burying her face in her hands. “Noooooo! Why is this a thing?”

Louie cackled. “Because it’s hilarious.”

“Ooooh, we should hit up Gos for another emote,” Dewey said.

“No! Absolutely not,” Webby protested. “Vetoed!”

“What would that even be?” Huey asked. “Like, how do you visually distinguish a spider’s shadow from the spider itself?”

“It doesn’t _matter_ because we’re _not making it an emote!”_

“Okay, chat, before we end the stream,” Shadow said, “do you think I should make it an emote?”

“Shadow!” Webby cried. “No! I trusted you!”

“She plays Warlock, Webs,” Louie said.

Shadow just laughed. “Alright, alright. But in all seriousness, this has been… amazing. I’m really honored, I guess, that you wanted to stream with me? Like, you guys are bigshots. I’m just… I don’t know. It was really fun. And also a huge thank you to Webby’s chat—you guys have been so kind, and so generous, and I really appreciate it so, so much.”

“Yeah!” Dewey agreed. “We had a lot of fun playing with you!”

“Mmhmm!” Webby chirped, before dropping into her more professional voice. “Alright, chat; thanks for stopping by as always, and I hope you guys have all followed Shadow! I’m not going to raid her again anytime soon or anything, but I may set my stream up to host hers if she streams while we’re offline.”

“Oh yeah, I can probably do that too,” Shadow said. “I mean, not that you guys really need it, but still.”

“No, no, I appreciate it!”

“Alright,” Shadow said. “Cool. Okay, well I’m gonna end it here then. Thanks so much again, guys, and I’ll see you all later! Byeee!”

“Bye!” Webby called, and her brothers chimed in too with their own farewells. 

“Alright, were offline,” Shadow said, letting out a sigh. “I… meant what I said, by the way. I still don’t think it’s really hit me yet, but, just… thank you.”

Webby smiled to herself, leaning forward in her chair and propping her elbows up on her desk. “You’re welcome,” she said. “More than welcome. I know we haven’t known each other for very long, Shadow, but you seem like a really cool person. I’m so glad we met!”

“I think the most crazy thing about this is just… how _natural_ it all feels. I never thought I’d be a big streamer or anything—I mean, it’s a nice thought, but you never really think it’s gonna happen. But here I am in front of _thousands_ of people and it just… feels like I’m hanging out with friends.”

“It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?” Huey agreed. “I mean, we’ve been at it for a while now, and it still doesn’t exactly feel real.”

“If you ever get anxious or anything, though, feel free to reach out,” Webby said. “It can be a bit of a shift to get popular like this.”

“Especially as quickly as you did,” Louie added. 

“Well, I don’t really know how many people are gonna stick around without you guys here,” Shadow said. 

Louie hummed. “You’d be surprised.”

“Yeah, I think they liked you a lot!” Dewey said. “I mean, who wouldn’t?”

“Especially with how pretty you are,” Huey said softly. 

There was a pause, and then Dewey and Louie burst out laughing, and Webby groaned. “Nooo, Red, not you too! I have no siblings. None!”

Shadow giggled. “You’re so cute, Pink.”

Webby had to bite down a startled squeak at that, her face burning. “U-um.”

“Oooh, SpiderShadow real?” Dewey said teasingly. 

Louie snorted. “Careful, Shadow, you’ll break her.”

“No, I—” Shadow groaned. “No, I didn’t mean it like _that,_ I just—nevermind, there’s nothing I can say here, is there?”

“You _did_ just call her cute,” Huey affirmed. 

“It’s okay, I know what you meant,” Webby said meekly, fighting through her blush. “They’re just horrible, awful devil brothers.”

“Thanks.” Shadow let out a breath. “No, yeah, I have a younger sister, and I love her very much, but she can be a little shit sometimes, so I get it.”

“We’re amazing brothers,” Dewey said. “No idea what she’s talking about.”

“So, not to cut this short, but it’s getting pretty late for me,” Shadow said.

“Us too,” Huey said. “Also, I have somewhere to be tomorrow, and while it’s in the afternoon I’d rather be well-rested.”

“Oh, right,” Dewey mumbled. “I forgot about that.”

“Yeah, we can wrap up!” Webby said. “Would you be interested in streaming with us again sometime, Shadow? We won’t be able to tomorrow, but maybe later in the week?”

“That sounds great,” Shadow said. “Do you guys have a schedule? I know nothing about your stream, honestly.”

“Not really,” Webby admitted. “Basically just whenever I feel like playing, I stream. And if any of these guys are free, they usually join.”

“Right,” Shadow said. “What about when you guys are playing but Webby isn’t?”

“Then we just don’t stream,” Louie said. “We considered all making separate channels, but decided against it. And Webby’s the best gameplay-wise, and also plays the most out of all of us, so it made sense for her to be the one that kind of leads the channel. There also aren’t a lot of girls who stream, so that also makes her stand out more than any of us would. Which is shitty, because that shouldn’t be special or whatever, but, like, that’s how it is.”

“Wait, why have only one channel, though?” Shadow asked. “Just for convenience?”

“It’s because of how the wingz.tv algorithm works,” Huey explained. “Since channels with higher viewing numbers are prioritized, it’s better to consolidate views if you want to reach a wider audience. If we split the viewers between all four of us, our numbers would actually get a lot lower, even when you combined them.”

Shadow hummed. “Huh. I’ve never even thought about stuff like that.”

Dewey scoffed. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. Red and Green handle most of that marketing and optimization stuff; it just goes over my head.”

“Interesting,” Shadow said slowly. “So, wait, does that mean that if we’re playing together, only one of us should be steaming?”

“That’s a bit different since you’re not part of the SpiderWebby channel,” Louie said. “Like, Webby’s not paying you. She _is_ paying us. You know?”

“Yeah,” Webby affirmed. “A raid like I just did is pretty unusual, since I basically gave up my income today to you. If we do this again in the future, we can stream concurrently, and people can choose who they want to support.”

“Oh,” Shadow said, sounding a bit reserved. “I don’t want to take donations away from you, though.”

“Trust me,” Huey said, “our financial situation is doing _just_ fine. I can guarantee you that you need the money more than we do.”

“Yeah, we just do it ‘cause it’s fun,” Dewey said. “The extra spending cash is a nice bonus for sure, but, like… yeah. We’re not relying on it or anything.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t be, either, but if you say so.” Shadow paused. “Either way, I’d love to play with you guys again. See you later?”

Webby smiled. “See you later!”

* * *

The morning after the raid, Lena stumbled out of the kitchen, bowl of cereal in hand. She rubbed at her eyes as she sat down at the dinner table. She was still in her pajamas and half-asleep, and so was mildly perturbed when Violet, fully clothed and awake, took the seat across from her, looking at something on her phone.

“Greetings, Lena.”

Lena groaned in response and shoveled a spoonful of cereal into her beak.

“Are you by any chance familiar with the news publication company, _Waiting in the Wingz_?”

Lena blinked, long and slow, as the name rattled around in her mind. “They… cover streaming and gaming news, right? I think I read an opinion piece they did about the balance changes in the most recent Aberrae patch.”

Violet nodded. “Yes, precisely. And they recently published a most intriguing article.”

“I thought you didn’t care about video games,” Lena said, before crunching down on another spoonful.

“Mmm.” Violet glanced back down to her phone. “Astute. Yes, normally it isn’t a topic that particularly interests me, but it certainly interests you. And seeing as how I am your sister, and you refuse to do ‘nerd shit’ such as ‘read articles,’ I find I must occasionally take it upon myself to inform you of relevant news.”

Lena ate another bite of cereal, looking tiredly at her sister. “Okay.”

Violet cleared her throat. “This article is written by Jeffery Longfeather and is entitled, ‘Aberrae Wingz.tv Giant ‘SpiderWebby’ Discovers Unknown Streamer, Calls Five Hour Raid’ and was posted at eight o’clock this morning.”

Lena almost choked, snatching Violet’s phone from her hands. “Give me that.”

Lena’s eyes zeroed in on the screen, and, sure enough, a picture of her stream from last night was plastered at the top of the article. It was taken mid-game on Dellmore Mines, and Lena was laughing in the shot, probably at something one of the triplets had said if she had to guess. She braced herself, cereal forgotten in front of her, and started reading.

 _SpiderWebby_ _i_ _s one of the top streamers for Heroes of Aberrae on_ _Wingz.tv_ _, with nearly twenty-five thousand subscribers. Aside from a few sporadic collaborations that never stuck, Webby is most frequently joined on her streams by her three brothers. With a standard Aberrae lobby having five players to a team, this means that Webby and company are always playing with at least one randomly chosen teammate, which has led to both hilarious and unfortunate situations alike—either way, though, a good chunk of SpiderWebby’s most popular stream clips arise from antics involving a chaotic fifth party, to the point where ‘the rando’ has become a running gag within her Wingz Chat._

 _However, last night, during a seemingly normal stream entitled ‘ Y_ _ou guessed it: More Aberrae (ft. RGB)_ _’, the gag of ‘the rando’ turned into something much bigger, through pure serendipity. Webby and her team queued into a game with a user named ‘ShadowGirl’, a Warlock player who floored both the streamers and their chat with her impressive and aggressive Warlock plays, including a triple-kill at the enemy spawn and a devastating combo using Dark Puppeteer and the recent Thief rework which we discussed on Wednesday_ _here_ _. A_ _clip o_ _f that specific play has been floating around twitter, and professional Aberrae player LTG Hassle even spoke on the clip in a_ _tweet _ _calling it ‘absolutely broken’ and expressing worries over a potential double-saboteur meta on the horizon; though, many question whether a single synergy with a Secret Technique is enough for Thief to finally see regular high-level play._

 _The night didn’t end there, though—far from it. After the game, at the behest of her chat, SpiderWebby added ShadowGirl as a friend in the hopes of queuing up for more games with her. As it happens, ShadowGirl was also streaming, though to a much more modest audience of about fifty viewers._ _Webby decided to raid ShadowGirl ,_ _taking her completely by surprise and giving her about eight thousand more viewers in an instant. It wasn’t long before the five of them all got into a call together on ShadowGirl’s stream, and the raid lasted for four hours and forty-five minutes while they played together, winning all but one of their games to boot._

_But while their sweeping performance was certainly eye-grabbing, chat had something else to focus on: a potential crush. When Webby first opened ShadowGirl’s stream, she had absentmindedly called the smaller streamer ‘really pretty’ before shortly after asking, ‘Wait, did I say that out loud?’ (_ _ clip _ _). Her twitch chat was quick to jump on the slip-up, and the teasing was perpetuated by her brothers and eventually even ShadowGirl herself, much to Webby’s embarrassment._

_SpiderWebby had always vocally supported the LGBT community, and back in May she_ _confirmed that she was a lesbian_ _during one of her streams (which we talked about_ _here_ _), so it’s entirely possible that there may be a bit more to her seemingly innocuous comment—her chat certainly seems to hope so, with self proclaimed ‘SpiderShadow shippers’ cropping up over the course of the stream. But regardless of any budding streamer romances, ShadowGirl’s addition to the party seemed to fill in holes that nobody knew were there, as after only a few hours of knowing each other the five streamers made a shockingly competent team, both gameplay and commentary wise._

_As of right now, it is unclear whether ShadowGirl and SpiderWebby will be collaborating more in the future, though it definitely seems likely considering the attention their brief friendship has already attracted. Over the course of the raid, ShadowGirl gained 86 new subscribers and nearly a thousand more followers, and total viewership peaked at an impressive 11K, which is a lot even compared to SpiderWebby’s usual numbers. No matter what happens, it seems that ShadowGirl has gotten her name on the radar when it comes to top Aberrae players._

Lena stared at the phone. “Well, uh. Yeah, so, um, that…” She ate another bite of cereal, chewed, and swallowed, all without looking away. “They wrote a whole article about this?”

“I think they may be scrambling for stories a little,” Violet said. “But even still, it seems like you had an eventful night. I joined your stream for a few minutes, but chat was moving too quickly for me to keep up, so I left. I’m glad you had fun.”

“I did,” Lena said, smiling. “They were great to play with. And… it was exciting having that many people watching, even if it was a bit hectic. I don’t know, it’s just… really flattering, but also humbling, if that makes sense? I don’t know. It’s crazy.”

“I think I understand what you mean. At the very least, it was certainly a serendipitous encounter.” She paused. “So. SpiderShadow?”

“Oh, god,” Lena mumbled, sliding her face into her hands.

“All I’m saying is that she seemed very sincere in that initial clip where she called you pretty,” Violet said. “You _have_ seen it, right?”

“Yes,” Lena said. “Of course I’ve seen it. But that doesn’t mean she has a _crush_ on me.”

“So when’s the wedding?”

“Oh my _god_ Violet,” Lena said, rolling her eyes and standing up. “You’re the worst.”

“Are you implying that a girl called you pretty and you _haven’t_ immediately fallen in love with her?” Violet argued, her face not even betraying a hint of the amusement Lena knew she was deriving from this.

“The _worst,”_ Lena repeated, gathering up her dishes and walking into the kitchen. “Real talk, though, I’m gonna go stream some more. I feel like this is something I should capitalize on fast, you know?”

“That makes sense,” Violet said. “I shall not disturb you. Best of luck becoming a true gamer girl.”

Lena glared at her. “I’ll skin you.”

“I look forward to it. Oh, but I am having a friend over in the afternoon,” Violet remembered. “Two o’clock, to be precise.”

Lena nodded. “Yeah, I can wrap up by then. Might do more tonight, though, then. This is your nerd camping buddy whose dad runs a bank or something?”

Violet made a face. “My… Senior Woodchuck friend whose great uncle runs McDuck Enterprises, the megacorporation that technically owns the city of Duckburg.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Violet rolled her eyes. “Of course. But, yes, that friend. His name is Huey, by the way.”

“Will he answer to nerd?”

Violet gave her a look. “Don’t you have video games to stream?”

Lena just laughed, walking out of the dining room. “See you, nerd.”

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Dragonkin**

_“YOU ALL SHALL BURN!”_ —Dragonkin (after using Eruption)

Class: Bestial

  * Bestial heroes are inhuman creatures that fight with their latent magic and abilities. If left unchecked, these heroes will brute force their way straight through the enemy team. They’re good for players who like to take risks and make bold plays.



Role: Brawler

  * Brawlers know how to start fights, and know how to finish them. Brawlers usually lead charges from the front lines, able to fend off multiple Heroes at once in a direct fight.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Dragon’s Breath

  * Dragonkin breathes out a stream of red-hot flames. A medium ranged attack with extremely rapid fire rate that will melt nearby enemies in a matter of seconds.



Alt Fire: Dragon’s Wings

  * Dragonkin pumps his wings and dashes forward a short distance. When used mid-air, the button can be held down to glide, which maintains dash momentum. 4s cooldown.



Primary Ability: Fireball

  * Dragonkin spits out a fireball that explodes against the ground, dealing damage in an area and lighting the ground on fire for 3s, dealing continuous damage to anyone standing there. 7s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Steel Scales

  * Applies Steel Scales to self for 5s. While affected by Steel Scales, Dragonkin takes 25% less damage from all sources. 13s cooldown.



Secret Technique: Eruption

  * Dragonkin spews fire in a large radius around himself, knocking enemies back and lighting all of the surrounding ground on fire for 10s. Any enemies standing in the flames will take continuous damage. This ability charges up slowly over time.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to whomanity for totally fucking calling that Huey and Violet would know each other already. I'm sure this will go perfectly well with exactly zero shenanigans!


	4. Somebody Clip That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violet has a guest over.

**Shadow Talks Streaming With SpiderWebby (clipped by ThunderMelon)**

_ShadowGirl is in the middle of a game of Heroes of Aberrae, and finishes off a kill on an enemy Dryad. As a wraith forms in front of her, she glances at chat._

_“Would I be down with streaming with SpiderWebby again? Oh, hell yes,” Shadow says, giving a small laugh. “No, yeah, for sure. I’m not gonna, like…_ invite _myself onto her stream or anything, because that’s weird, but I’d definitely say yes if she asks.”_

_She follows the wraith as it seeks out an enemy Mage. The mage sees Shadow coming and starts attacking, destroying the wraith, and Shadow throws her Hex out onto him as she starts fighting back._

_“And not even just because of the money or the popularity or whatever,” Shadow continues. “I mean, all that stuff is great, and I’m super glad that my stream is a lot bigger now. It feels really nice. But just… hold on.”_

_She pauses as she finishes off the mage and shadowsteps around a nearby corner before the enemy team can surround her. She recalls her wraith, rapidly regaining her lost health as she moves to flank around behind the main fight._

_“It’s just, like, that was legitimately the most fun I’ve ever had while streaming. Hell, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing this_ game. _Webby, Red, Blue, and Green are all such funny, nice, genuine people. They’re just a blast to hang out with. And like, holy hell, her chat is_ amazing!”

_Shadow bursts out of a side passage onto the main point, diving into the team fight taking place there. She tosses her Hex out onto the enemy Barbarian and then immediately lets a fully charged necrotic blast fly out and slam into his chest. She goes in for more laser blasts, but is walled off by their Dryad._

_“I was nervous when I started streaming because, I mean, it’s really no secret how toxic wingz chat can be sometimes. Even though I’m a—or, well, even though I_ was _a pretty small streamer, I’ve still had to ban a few jerks who see a girl playing and come in to say something gross or whatever. But SpiderWebby’s chat was legit the kindest wingz chat I’ve ever seen. I mean, most of you guys I’m pretty sure are part of her chat, so I guess I’m talking to you directly here—but like, during the raid, they were so positive and uplifting. I got_ multiple _tips that were just reminding me to stay hydrated, like—” Shadow gives off a disbelieving laugh. “Like, that’s so wholesome, you know?”_

_She shadowsteps to the side, and starts firing at the Barbarian some more, managing to finish him off with the help of her teammates before the enemy Thief takes her out. The spectate cam pops up, and Lena lets herself relax back in her chair, eyeing chat more readily now._

_“What do I think of SpiderShadow?” she reads, raising an eyebrow. She giggles. “God, it’s really fun to tease her about it. Top tier meme. But also, guys, that’s all it is, okay? A joke. She doesn’t actually have a crush on me or anything; this isn’t, like, some budding love story. I just don’t want you guys to get too carried away with it and stuff.”_

_Shadow respawns, and immediately starts running back to the action. “But, yeah. I had a great time with those guys, and I’d love to play with them again soon. Open offer.”_

The clip ended, and Webby could feel herself grinning dumbly at her phone as the car bumped over a pothole.

“What’s got you so excited, dear?” her Granny asked from the driver’s seat.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Webby said.

“Does nothing always make you smile that much?”

“Okay, well—I met this girl last night,” Webby admitted. “When I was streaming.”

“Oh?” her Granny raised an eyebrow, but her eyes stayed on the road. “A girl?”

“I—not like _that,_ Granny!” Webby protested.

“Mmhmm.”

“Well…” Webby sighed. “Okay, maybe a _little_ bit like that. But don’t you _dare_ tell the boys!”

“My lips are sealed.” She pulled to a stop at a red light, and turned to give Webby an amused look. “Should I be concerned that you’re picking up girls over the internet, though? When do I get to meet her?”

Webby rolled her eyes. “Come on, Granny. She probably doesn’t even live close to Duckburg.”

“You never know,” Granny said. “But I’m glad your streams are going well. I must admit, I still don’t quite understand exactly what they are, but… Well, if they can finally get you a girlfriend, then maybe I should have let you start sooner.”

Webby squeaked. “Granny!”

The light turned green, and as Webby hid her face in her hands, her Granny only chuckled as she pulled forward.

* * *

Violet hummed to herself as her eyes scanned through the pages of _The Lindwyrm’s Tail,_ a new book she was reading. In fact, this was to be the first book of a new book club she was participating in; she had already read the relevant chapters, of course, but she figured there was no harm in doing some quick re-reading before the meeting.

The book club was rather modest at the moment, consisting of only herself and a friend she had met through the Woodchucks. When she was younger, she used to not go to any of the social events; she’d been a bit shy, she supposed. Earlier this year, though, she’d started attending them more regularly, and she was glad she had. She’d made several friends, the most noteworthy one being Huey Duck—he was one of the few other Senior Woodchucks in their troop alongside herself, having passed the trial in the year after her, and once he and Violet had started talking more, they had instantly hit it off. He had mentioned his interest in this particular novel, as he had just started, and Violet had proposed the idea of a book club; he’d been thrilled, and they had promptly set the date.

It wasn’t long before the doorbell echoed throughout the house, and Violet put down the book. “I’ll get it!” she called.

She walked over to the front door and swung it open. “Huey. Perfectly on time, I see.”

Huey laughed, standing on the welcome mat with his copy of the book under his arm. “A Woodchuck is never late! May I come in?”

“Of course.” Violet stepped aside, letting Huey slip past her, and then closed the door as they walked into the living room. “So, how have you been?”

“Good!” Huey said. “I’ve been good. Your house is really nice!”

“Thank you.” Violet paused. “Wait, didn’t you say a while ago that you live in a mansion?”

Huey coughed. “Uh, well, yeah. But that doesn’t make your house any less nice!” 

“Well, perhaps next time we meet, it could be at your place,” Violet said with a smirk. “Give me a taste of luxury.”

Huey rolled his eyes. “Maybe. It can get a little crazy in there sometimes. I’ve got three siblings.”

Violet’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow. Yeah, I only have the one, and she’s already a lot to handle at times.”

“You guys talking about me behind my back?”

Violet and Huey both turned to see Lena enter the room, slouching in the doorframe. She cracked open a can of Pep.

“Yes,” Violet said. “Lena, this is my friend Huey from Woodchucks. Huey, this is my sister Lena.”

“Sup,” Lena said. “Hey, aren’t you that clown that Violet totally wrecked when she became a Superior Woodchuck or whatever?”

Violet watched in fascination as Huey looked over to Lena, went wide-eyed, dropped his jaw, and then declared, loudly, _“Shadow?!”_

Lena blinked, flicking her eyes concernedly over to Violet. “Uhhhhh.”

“You watch her streams?” Violet asked, cocking her head to the side. “I wasn’t aware you were a gamer.”

“Violet, please stop calling people gamers,” Lena said, making a face. “But, yeah, this is crazy. You know me?”

“I—er—” Huey cleared his throat, and when he spoke up again, it was in a rumbly, low voice, a far cry from his usual tenor. “Yeah, well, uh, sort of. I watch… SpiderWebby’s stream? And so I was there for the raid?”

“Oh, neat. Yeah, they’re really great streamers, aren’t they?” 

Huey looked like he was in physical pain. “Uhhh… yes. Really great.” He paused. “You’re really great, uh, too. A great streamer, I mean.”

“Thanks.” Lena turned her head down and stared intensely at the floorboards for a few seconds before coming back up and saying, “So, this is very strange for me.”

“Same,” Huey said, coughing. He was still masking his voice; it was curious, and Violet’s head began whirring. “Um… You’re amazing at Aberrae?”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Lena said. She shook her head. “Sorry, this is—this is just so surreal. I mean I guess it makes sense I might get recognized eventually but, dude, it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours yet.”

Huey awkwardly looked over to Violet, who just shrugged. “Um… Yeah, I mean, it’s super surreal for me too. I was just talk—uh, just watching you last night, and now you’re right here in front of me, and also my friend’s sister. Um.”

“Yeah. What are the chances?” Lena managed to put on a polite smile, though Violet could tell she was having an internal crisis. “Well, I’m glad you liked my stream. Who do you play?”

“What?” Huey seemed surprised by the question, even falling out of his fake-deep-voice for a second, but he quickly recovered. “Uh, well I actually play a pretty wide arsenal so I can fill in what’s needed. I’ve been mostly playing Mage recently, but I also play a lot of Dryad and Warlock.”

“Hey, I play Warlock!” Lena said excitedly. Her face immediately dropped, though. “Except, you obviously already know that.”

“Uh… yeah.” Huey shrugged. “You’re really good with her, though. I learned a lot from watching you.”

“Oh! I’m glad.” Lena glanced over her shoulder at nothing, then turned back around. “Well, I don’t want to keep you two from your nerd-tivities for too long, but it was nice meeting you. Maybe we can play together sometime.”

“That—” Huey stopped short, once again making a face of mental excruciation. “Uh, yeah, maybe we can sometime. Nice… meeting you.”

Lena gave him a wave, then turned, sipping at her soda as she walked off. Once she was gone, Violet turned to Huey, and raised an eyebrow.

“…What?” Huey asked. He was sweating.

“You’re Red, aren’t you?” Violet asked. “From the stream.”

Huey gulped. “Uhhhhhhh.” 

“I thought I recognized your voice.”

“Uhhhhhhh.”

“Why didn’t you tell Lena?” Violet asked. “Not that I’m complaining. That was very amusing.”

“Well, it’s just—I panicked?” Huey glanced nervously to the doorway, as if Lena would reappear at any moment and Hex him. “This is so weird, Violet. Like, you have no idea how weird this is. I try to keep my streaming life and my personal life very separate and I was really, _really_ not prepared for them to collide like this!”

“That’s understandable,” Violet said, nodding. “You do realize she’ll find out eventually, though, right?”

Huey paled. “She will?!”

Violet gave him a look. “Unless you plan on keeping it a secret forever.”

“I… kind of do?” Huey admitted.

“Huey.”

“Don’t give me that look!” Huey protested.

“I haven’t changed my facial expression for this entire conversation,” Violet stated. “That plan makes no sense. What are you going to tell your siblings?”

“I’m not going to tell them anything!”

“Are you sure that’s fair to Webby?”

“…What?” Huey asked.

Violet shrugged. “Well, doesn't she have a crush on Lena?”

Huey’s beak curved into a small ‘o’, and he took in a heavy breath. “Well.” He cleared his throat. “If you ask her, no, she doesn’t.”

“What if I ask you?”

“Inconclusive.”

Violet rolled her eyes. “Okay, what if I ask Blue or Green?”

“Dewey or Louie,” Huey corrected. “Sorry, it’s—really weird to use the screen names in real life. I mean, all of this is incredibly strange, but—god.” 

“You’re triplets and your names are Huey, Dewey, and Louie?”

Huey rolled his eyes. “It’s a long story.”

“Is the story that your parents hate you?”

“I prefer to think of it as a momentary lapse in judgement on my Uncle’s part,” Huey said. “But, uh—no, yeah, if you ask them, she definitely does have a crush on Sha—er, on Lena.”

Violet nodded. “Right. So, then, why not introduce them properly? I’m sure Webby would love to meet her in person.”

Huey sighed. “Look, this is just… moving too fast. We barely know each other, really, and normally with internet relationships, the point where you face to face comes a _lot_ later. I just don’t want to overwhelm her or anything.”

“That’s considerate of you, Huebert,” Violet said. “I’ll admit I’m not as knowledgeable as I would like to be when it comes to online etiquette, so maybe you have a point. Just be careful that you don’t dig yourself into a hole.”

“Right.” Huey paused. “You’re… not going to tell her, are you?”

“Oh, absolutely not,” Violet said. “I want to see where this goes.”

Huey gave her a flat look. “Thanks, Violet.”

“Any time.”

* * *

**Group DM: SpiderShadow Real (SpiderWebby, SeniorSeniorWoodchuck, JustDewIt, Pep4blood, ShadowGirl)**

_SpiderWebby:_ Okay, who changed the gc name?

 _Pep4blood:_ literally no idea what ur talking about

 _SpiderWebby:_ >:(

 _ShadowGirl:_ fsdgfshdjfhjsd   
_ShadowGirl:_ wow they are ruthless to you

 _SpiderWebby:_ Horrible brothers!!   
_SpiderWebby:_ Anyway. I wasn’t able to stream yesterday bc I had to go somewhere with my grandmother, but I’m free today!   
_SpiderWebby:_ I was thinking maybe in an hour or so?

 _ShadowGirl:_ oh!! i mean im down

 _Pep4blood:_ eh not feeling it rn. Might hop in later

 _JustDewIt:_ hekkkkk yeah!! Gamer time B)   
_JustDewIt:_ thats me saying im free BTW

 _SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ I’ve got some reading to do, but I may be able to join later as well if that’s cool.

 _SpiderWebby:_ That’s super cool!! No worries

 _ShadowGirl:_ o whatcha reading red

 _SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ Oh um   
_SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ It’s a fantasy novel called The Lindwyrm’s Tail. It’s very interesting

 _ShadowGirl:_ fucking, i think my sisters reading that rn too lmao

 _SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ Oh, really? That’s crazy.

 _ShadowGirl:_ were just rollin in coincidences arent we

 _SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ Haha, yeah.

 _ShadowGirl:_ anyway yeah im down in an hour

 _SpiderWebby:_ Great! We’ll see you then :D

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Thief**

_“Paranoid yet?”_ —Thief (after killing with Backstab) 

Class: Martial

  * Martial heroes fight with weaponry and tactics, using a minimal amount of magic. Their skills tend to be more straightforward and reliable, but less versatile. These heroes tend to be easier on newer players, but also reward veterans with toolkits that nicely complement raw technical skill.



Role: Saboteur

  * Saboteurs appear when you least expect it, harassing the enemy team from flanks and off angles. They specialize in singling out vulnerable targets, taking them out in devastating surprise attacks, and then vanishing before they can get ganged up on.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Throwing Knives

  * Thief throws a knife forward in a short arc. A short to mid range attack with below average fire rate and average damage.



Alt Fire: Backstab

  * Thief performs a point-blank stab with her dagger. The attack comes out quickly, but is slow to recover. If attacking the enemy from behind, Backstab will deal damage equal to 50% of the enemy’s maximum health, instantly killing enemies on less than half health.



Primary Ability: Cloak

  * For 10s, Thief turns invisible and gains a 20% movement speed increase, but cannot fire or use any abilities. 7s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Poison Dart

  * Thief throws a poisonous dart out. Enemies struck by the dart will become Poisoned for 10s. Poisoned enemies will take damage over time, down to a minimum of 50% maximum HP. 15s cooldown.



Secret Technique: Poison Bomb

  * Thief tosses out a bomb that applies Deadly Poison to any enemies caught in the blast for 15s. Deadly Poisoned enemies will take damage over time, down to a minimum of 25% maximum HP. This ability charges up slowly over time.




	5. Round Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena streams a bit more, and then gets ready to go eat dinner with her family.

“Aaaaand, we’re live,” Lena said as her stream started up. “Hey chat.”

**_ThunderMelon:_ ** _Hey!!_ _  
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _hellooo_

“Alright, so the more astute among you who read the stream title might know this already, but we’re gonna be playing a bit more with SpiderWebby today.” She paused, looking at her stream. Her numbers weren’t nearly as high as they were back when Webby had raided her, but they were still leagues higher than she was used to. “And, wow, there’s a lot of you. This is still so weird.”

**_Aklima:_ ** _spiderwebby? wtf did i miss_ _  
_ **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _yessss!!_ _  
_ **_WishWash:_ ** _u missed a lot lmao_

Lena smiled, but looked away from chat to pull up their group chat on Disbird. Webby had petulantly changed the name to ‘SpiderShadow FAKE!!!’ and it didn’t look like the boys had bothered to retaliate yet.

_ShadowGirl:_ okay im ready

_SpiderWebby:_ !! Here we goooo!

A few seconds later, Webby started a call. Lena accepted. 

“Helloooooo,” she said.

“Hey Shadow!” Webby chirped. 

“What’s crackalackin’?” Blue asked.

Lena frowned. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

**_Hellranger:_ ** _WHATS CRACKALACKIN :dogchamp: :dogchamp:_ _  
_ **_XLDolphin:_ ** _WHATS CRACKALACKIN_ _  
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _oh my god_ _  
_ **_Alkashlaz:_ ** _:bluepumped: WHATS CRACKALACKIN :bluepumped:_

“I said what’s crackalackin’?” he repeated. 

“Your neck if you ever say that to me again,” Lena answered. “God, now you’ve got chat going.”

**_Vouroux:_ ** _X2 CRACKALACKIN COMBO_ _  
_ **_JelloDonut:_ ** _WHATS CRACKALACKIN_ _  
_ **_DistinguishedSentry:_ ** _chat pls_ _  
_ **_HollyHocked:_ ** _whats :clap: crack :clap: alackin_ _  
_ **_Jerinord:_ ** _:redfacepalm:_

Webby giggled. “Alright, Red and Green might be able to join later on, but for now it’ll just be us. So, how’ve you been, Shadow?”

_System Message:_ _Pink_ _has invited you to their party._

“Good,” Lena said as she accepted the invite. “A bit crazy. The fucking, Wingz’s news publication thingy wrote an article about us.”

**_LogChamp:_ ** _waoh fr?_ _  
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _youre famous!!!_ _  
_ **_Hurricrane:_ ** _that was fast_

“Really?” Webby asked. “Huh. I’m surprised they jumped on it so quickly.”

_System Message: Party leader queued for competitive matchmaking. Please wait…_

“For real,” Blue agreed. “Like, I get that Aberrae’s a big game right now and we’re one of the top streamers for it, but a single raid doesn’t seem like much of a story.”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Lena shrugged. “I think it was mostly because I was so unknown, and the fact that it happened through comp matchmaking of all things. Also, there’s the whole thing about Webby’s horrible, debilitating crush on me, which is a story in and of itself.”

**_Axelbak:_ ** _LMAO_ _  
_ **_Froooooog:_ ** _SpiderShadow all the way babyyyy :bluepumped:_

“Stoooooop!” Webby cried, but she cracked a laugh. “You’re terrible!”

Blue was giggling, too, but he managed to fight through it. “Yeah, Webby, she’s… _pretty_ bad, isn’t she?”

“Blue, I know where you sleep,” Webby hissed. “And—actually, you know what? I’ve had some time to think, and I’ve decided to stand my ground here. Shadow? You _are_ pretty.”

**_Kliedyscope:_ ** _its happeniiiiing :lesbianheart:_ _  
_ **_ManWithDaJams:_ ** _:greenthinking: :greenthinking:_

Lena smiled. “Aw, thanks, Pink. You’re pretty too.”

“Wh—you don’t even know what I look like!”

“Just reading vibes,” Lena said. Then her eyes widened, and she snapped her fingers. “Oh, shit, that reminds me, though—I got recognized yesterday!”

**_ThunderMelon:_ ** _yeah GAY vibes amiright_ _  
_ **_IzzyMastery:_ ** _o shit?!?!_ _  
_ **_Reagnor:_ ** _:blueshock: :blueshock:_

“Wait, really?” Webby asked, surprise evident in her voice. “That’s… That’s insane! Already?”

Lena nodded. “Mmhmm. My sister’s friend came over, and he called me out instantly. Apparently he’s a fan of you guys and was there for the raid.”

“Lucky!” Blue cried. “That’s so freaking cool! I’ve _never_ gotten recognized.”

“Because nobody knows what we look like,” Webby said. “We’ve been over this.”

He sighed. “Yeah, but _still._ I’m jealous.”

_System Message: Competitive game found (Dellmore Mines)_

“It was honestly really awkward,” Lena said as the hero select screen loaded in, and she picked Warlock. “I had _no_ clue what to say.”

“I can’t even imagine,” Webby said. “That’s so surreal.”

Blue let out a hum as he hovered between a few different heroes before finally settling on Barbarian. “So, are you really a Warlock one-trick?”

“I mean, yeah,” Lena said. “But I can kick ass so it’s fine.”

**_Allinore:_** _akdsfgsdkjhd hell yeah_ _  
_ ** _Goooose:_** _:fist: :triumph:_

Webby laughed, locking in as Archer like usual. “You sure can. C’mon, let’s get these clowns.”

After a few games, Green joined them, and then Red came in the next game. Lena was, once again, having the time of her life; streaming with friends was _leagues_ better than streaming solo. It was more fun, she could play better, and she didn’t have to rely on just herself to fill all the empty space as the sole commentator. Plus, while it wasn’t anything like the attention she’d gotten during the raid, donations and subscriptions were still coming in with a humbling frequency. She found herself dropping into a rhythm with the others, playing and laughing and teasing, and before she knew it, it was five thirty.

She’d glanced at the clock while waiting to respawn, and the time had practically slapped her across the face. “Oh, shit, this is gonna have to be my last one,” she said. “I’m supposed to be going out to dinner with my family soon.”

**_Lollycake:_ ** _awww_ _  
_ **_Bournes:_ ** _F_ _  
_ **_Hellranger:_ ** _smh just ditch em_

“Oh, valid,” Green said.

“Jeez, you’re right,” Webby said. “I didn’t realize we’d been playing that long! We should probably get dinner soon too.”

Blue let out a hum. “Maybe we could go out for dinner too? I’m feeling hamburgers.”

“You’re _always_ feeling hamburgers,” Green complained. “Why don’t we go to, like, an _actual_ restaurant for once?”

**_Rellik:_ ** _borger…_ **_  
_** **_ThunderMelon:_ ** _shadow invite them to ur family dinner lmao_

Lena laughed as she respawned. “Really? Green, you strike me as someone who would love hamburgers.”

“I _do!”_ Green insisted. “In fact, I love them so much that I’ve developed a very particular palette. But _Blue_ here always insists on going to this crappy place that just makes the _worst_ burgers I’ve ever—”

“What?!” Blue exclaimed. “Oh, no no no no you did _not_ just disrespect The Birdger Shack like that!”

“Guys, can we _please_ not have this argument for the seventeenth time?” Red asked, exhausted. “I’m with Green, anyway. We should go somewhere actually nice for once.”

Lena ran up out of spawn, and bumped into the enemy’s Werecat along the way. Lena cast her hex onto her and began firing, but she managed to retaliate with her Sonic Burst ability, stunning Lena’s character. She let out a grunt. “Ugh, Werecat’s behind us at the marketplace if anyone’s around to lend a hand.”

“I’m close,” Red said. “I’ll be there in a second.”

“Well, I don’t care if you’re with Green, because Webby’s on _my_ side,” Blue continued, ignoring them. He was still getting kills, though, so Lena didn’t really care. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah!” Webby agreed.

Green scoffed. “Come on, we all know Webby is the _least_ picky eater out there. She’ll eat anything!”

“That _is_ true,” Webby admitted. “Where would you want to eat, Red? I don’t think you’ve chosen in a while.”

“Um, well, I don’t know,” Red said as he popped out of an alleyway next to Lena, showering the Werecat in a hail of laser beams and lightning bolts. Between the two of them, they managed to make short work of her, and Lena even got the final blow, allowing her to recoup her lost health by absorbing the resulting wraith. “Maybe Nine Parrots or something? They’ve got a pretty good menu.”

Blue sighed. “Ugh. _Fine.”_

Lena let out a breath as she and Huey started running towards the point now that Werecat was dealt with. She spared a glance over at chat.

**_JordanMills:_ ** _the birdger shack is ass what is blue on about_ _  
_ **_Murk219:_ ** _imagine playing werecat_ _  
_ **_Klakitak:_ ** _ive never heard of any of these restaurants where do you live_ _  
_ **_REDH33L:_ ** _shadow where r u going to eat_

“Uhh, I don’t actually know where I’m going yet, chat,” Lena said. “I didn’t ask. We have a Nine Parrots where we live, too, though. They’ve got really good food there.”

“Oh, er, really?” Red asked, his voice weirdly shaky. “That’s cool.”

“Yep.” Lena frowned internally; Red had been acting kind of strange all day, honestly. Lena hadn’t thought much of it since they didn’t know each other too well yet, and it was possible it was just nerves talking with someone new. But then again, he’d been fine the other day during the raid. “We’ve got a Birdger Shack too—I mean, obviously, those things are everywhere. And Green’s right, by the way, they suck.”

“Come on!” Blue cried. “It’s _good!”_

“Got a pick on their Dryad!” Webby interrupted, directing Lena’s attention back to the game. “I think if we push now, we can probably win!”

“Nice,” Lena said. She pulled up the tab menu and looked at everyone’s Secret Technique charges; Blue and Red’s were both up. She could work with that. “Blue, if you use Eruption near point to deny some space, I bet Red could give ‘em a classic ice-explosion combo.”

“On it!” Blue said. 

“Oh, uh—” Red paused. “Yeah, that should work. Good plan, Shadow.”

As she and Red reached the capture point, they heard the sound of Dragonkin activating Eruption, and a giant circle of fire flared up around him. Lena opened fire onto the crowd of enemies guarding the point, giving cover for Red, who activated his own Secret Technique. A small, brightly-shining projectile shot out from Mage’s hand, and he quickly followed up with his Chilling Sweep move, which slowed down the enemy team. A few seconds later, the glimmering spark of magic collided with the floor and exploded in a giant purple burst, killing off one of the enemies straight away and injuring the other two enough that it was a piece of cake to clean them up. From there, they easily rushed onto the point, and Lena pressed forward to camp the enemy spawn and prevent them from retaking the point. 

And just like that, they won another game. 

“Woohoo!” Blue exclaimed. “That was so good!”

“Nice job, guys,” Webby commended.

“Aight,” Lena said, letting out a sigh. “I hate to cut this so abruptly, but my folks are gonna start giving me stern looks from out of frame if I don’t get out there soon, so I should probably go. It was great playing with you guys!”

“You too!” Webby said, and Lena could practically _hear_ the miles-wide grin in her voice.

“See you!” Blue said.

Green only gave a short, “Later,” before leaving the party.

Lena smiled. “Bye, chat! Thanks for coming!” 

**_Lollycake:_ ** _Byeeee!!!_ _  
_ **_Yearly:_ ** _adios_ _  
_ **_Aklima:_ ** _bye :heart: this was a lot of fun_

“See you later,” Red said quietly.

Lena gave a final wave to the camera before ending the stream and leaving the call.

* * *

Violet put down her phone as the stream ended. “Papa?”

Indy looked up from his book. “Yes?”

“I think I know where we should go tonight for dinner. How about Nine Parrots?”

Indy hummed thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah, it’s been a while since we went there last, hasn’t it?”

“Indeed. Plus, I think Lena enjoyed the food there a lot. It would be nice to do something to celebrate her stream becoming more popular.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Violet,” Indy said. “Nine Parrots it is, then.”

“Yes,” Violet said, smiling to herself. “It _is_ very thoughtful of me.”

* * *

Lena slung her jacket around her shoulders as she stepped outside and made her way over to the car. She opened the side door and slid into the backseat, and was just doing up her seatbelt when Ty sat down next to her, in Violet’s usual spot. 

“Wait, why are you back here?” Lena asked. “Unless—oh, no.”

Lena’s worst fears were confirmed as she saw Violet open the driver-side door. Indy took shotgun, and gave Violet an encouraging smile. “So, what do you do first?”

“Mirrors and seat position, I know,” Violet said curtly, dutifully adjusting the mirrors. 

“You seem tense,” Indy said softly. 

“Tense?” Violet scoffed. “I’m not tense. Whatever could have made you think I was tense?”

“Oh lord,” Lena said. “I did _not_ sign up for this.”

Ty gave her a smile. “Remember, Violet has to log sixty hours of driving with her learner’s permit before she can get her license. She needs all the practice she can get.”

“I’m too young to die,” Lena said. “I only just got big on wingz, and now I won’t be able to enjoy it before perishing in a grisly car accident.”

Indy shot her a glare over the shoulder of the passenger seat. “Lena, you’re not helping.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“If I remember correctly, Lena,” Violet said, eyeing her in the rear-view mirror, “you almost _did_ crash in your first week on real streets.”

_“Almost,”_ Lena stressed. “Very key word there.”

“So, do you know how to get to Nine Parrots, sweetie?” Indy asked.

“Leave the neighborhood, then left onto the bypass, right? Towards downtown.”

Indy nodded. “Great job.”

Lena raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Ty. “Nine Parrots? Really?”

“We thought it would be good to go somewhere nice to celebrate your rise to internet stardom,” Ty said with a smile. “Is there a problem?”

“Not really. Well, other than you saying ‘rise to internet stardom.’ Do we have to have another conversation about trying to be hip?”

Ty chuckled and reached out to ruffle Lena’s hair; she instinctively swatted him away. “My little girl’s all grown up. Don’t forget to call us when you’re rich and famous.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lena rolled her eyes, a small smile spreading across her face. “It’s just funny—my new friends from the stream said they’d be eating at a Nine Parrots tonight as well.”

Violet turned to look at her, smirking. “Wouldn’t it be funny if they lived in Duckburg and it was the same restaurant?”

Indy froze up, gripping Violet’s shoulder. “Eyes on the road, Vee!”

“Shhhcrap,” Violet murmured, whipping back around.

Lena gripped the sides of her seat, bracing herself. “Yeah, right. You know what _wouldn’t_ be funny though? If we never made it there in one piece to find out.”

Indy gave her another stern look at that, and then, at a small snickering from behind him, turned to face his husband with narrowed eyes. “Ty, don’t encourage her!”

Instantly, Ty transformed his chuckle into a loud cough. “Um—yes, Lena, please be nice to your sister.” 

“I can turn on red here, correct?” Violet asked as she pulled up to a red light.

As Indy’s attention was pulled back to the road, Lena and Ty shared a quick look. _‘Oops,’_ he mouthed at her. She shook her head and turned to look out the window, giggling silently.

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Mage**

_“You should have studied more.”_ —Mage (after getting a kill) 

Class: Arcane

  * Arcane heroes fight with spells and magic rather than traditional weaponry. They have more unusual abilities that drastically change the way you have to play the character. In the right hands, these heroes can singlehandedly turn the tide of battle.



Role: Brawler

  * Brawlers know how to start fights, and know how to finish them. Brawlers usually lead charges from the front lines, able to fend off multiple Heroes at once in a direct fight.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Arcane Shot

  * Mage shoots a beam from his staff. Average damage and fire rate.



Alt Fire: Lightning Bolt

  * Mage casts a powerful lightning bolt from his staff. When the bolt hits an enemy, all nearby enemies will also be hit for half damage through chain lightning. 5s cooldown.



Primary Ability: Chilling Sweep

  * Mage shoots a spread of small icicles from his staff. They don’t do much damage, but inflict Chill for 5s to any enemies they hit. Chilled enemies move at half their normal speed. 12s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Mirror Magic

  * Mage produces an illusion of a mirror in front of him. It is transparent from behind, but opaque from the front, though Heroes, abilities, and projectiles can pass through it from either direction. 20s cooldown.



Secret Technique: Mana Explosion

  * Mage shoots forward a small, slow-moving projectile that creates a huge, high-damage explosion upon landing. Mage and his allies take half damage from the explosion. This ability charges up slowly over time.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we goooooo!! hee hee
> 
> The adorable chapter art here was done by [vandebright](https://vandebright.tumblr.com/) over on tumblr! Go check them out!


	6. Face Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing like a nice dinner with your family, you know?

Louie was still looking over the Nine Parrots menu, waiting for the waiter to arrive, when the bell on the door rang from the other side of the restaurant. He glanced over reflexively at the noise, and then dropped both his jaw and his menu, which hit the table with a soft  _ whap, _ causing his siblings to turn to him in alarm.

“Louie?” Webby asked.

Louie just pointed. They turned; Dewey’s eyes widened, Huey gulped, looking a bit panicked, and Webby practically froze solid, staring.

“Uhhhhhhh…” Dewey swallowed. “So… that’s her, right?”

A family was sitting down in a booth over by the door. A large hummingbird man, a significantly lankier hummingbird man who, judging by the way they were acting, could only be his husband, a smaller hummingbird girl with a full head of curly black hair, and a duck in a dark, striped sweater with a pink streak in her hair.

“Ummm, maybe it’s, like, a, uh, coincidence?” Huey proposed. “Like she just looks similar?”

“Huey, come  _ on,” _ Dewey said. “It’s  _ definitely _ her.”

“Okay, so,  _ very _ similar! We still shouldn’t jump to conclusions, you know?”

Webby just kept staring.

“What the fuck,” Louie said. “What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. What the—”

“Hello, welcome to Nine Parrots. I’m Jane, and I’ll be serving you tonight. So, can I get you guys some drinks to start, or…?”

They all snapped to attention, none of them having noticed the waitress approaching their table. She had her shoulder-length brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and was staring at them boredly over her notepad.

Louie’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, Jane? Wow, it’s been forever!”

“Hm? Do I know you?” Jane asked, narrowing her gaze. Then, a second later: “Oh, wow, Louie? You’ve grown up.”

“The one and only,” Louie said, putting his hand to his chest. “So, finally got out of Funzo’s, huh?”

“Got out of  _ minimum wage _ is more like it. This place is a bit stuffy but, hey, they don’t skimp on paychecks. I’ve actually been able to start taking classes.” She smirked. “But enough about me. Lemme guess—you’ll take a Pep?”

“You know me so well.”

“Some things never change, I guess.” Jane scribbled it down on her pad. “And what about the rest of you?”

“I’ll just have water, thanks,” Huey said.

“Chocolate milk!” Dewey piped up.

Jane nodded. “And what about the pink one who’s having an internal crisis?”

Louie glanced across at Webby, who was still staring over at Shadow, completely oblivious to what was happening.

“She’d, uh, also like chocolate milk,” he said.

“Got it,” Jane said. “I’ll be right back.”

Louie watched her walk off, and then turned back to the table. “So, as I was saying: what the fuck.”

“This is crazy,” Dewey said. “Like, what are the chances?”

“I’m asking myself the same thing,” Huey mumbled. 

“You good, Webs?” Louie asked. 

Webby finally managed to wrench her eyes away from Shadow. “What?”

“I was asking if you’re okay.”

“Oh!” Webby smiled. “No, I’m not! Thanks for asking.”

“Well, I mean…” Dewey shrugged. “Should we talk to her?”

“No!” Webby and Huey said in unison. 

Louie exchanged a glance with Dewey, and then turned to raise an eyebrow at them. 

“I-I mean, I wouldn’t want to weird her out or anything,” Huey said. 

“Yeah! Yeah. It would just be awkward!”

Dewey frowned. “Wouldn’t it be more awkward  _ not _ to say anything?”

Huey shifted uncomfortably. “Um, well—”

“Okay, wait, hold up,” Louie said, waving his arms in a ‘stop’ gesture. “I know why it would be awkward for  _ Webby _ since she had a crush on her, but—”

“I do not have a crush on her!” Webby protested. 

Louie ignored her, turning to Huey. “But what’s up with  _ you?” _

“Nothing!” Huey said, a little too quickly. “It’s—I don’t know, like, it’s just—we try to keep our streaming lives and our personal lives separate, you know? Doesn’t this spit in the face of that?”

“But Shadow’s cool!” Dewey protested. “We might not get another chance to talk to her like this again!”

“Exactly,” Louie said. “Even knowing that she lives in town now, how do we explain to her later that we know that? We stalked you at a restaurant and didn’t say anything?” He rolled his eyes. “C’mon, we’ve played with her for, like, almost ten hours by now. That’s more time than I’ve talked to plenty of people I know IRL.”

“I guess…” Huey didn’t look convinced, but he  _ did  _ look like he was struggling to find another excuse to use as an argument, so it was a win either way. 

“Okay!” Webby said. “Okay, I see your point. But let’s  _ please  _ not just go rushing into this, okay? If I just started  _ talking _ to her face to face like that, well…” She blushed and turned away. “Ugh, I just know I’d embarrass myself. I need time to prepare mentally.”

“Oh my god, you really do have a crush on her,” Huey mumbled. 

“Yeah. Duh.” Louie sighed. “Well, fine. We have dinner to eat, after all, anyway. We’ve got time.”

Webby let out a small, relieved smile, and Huey let out a massive sigh. Louie still didn’t know what his deal was, but he also didn’t really care too much, so he relaxed back in his chair until Jane came back with their drinks. The Pep was served in a glass with ice and a straw, because sit-down restaurants were above soda cans apparently, and while this bothered Louie on a personal level, it didn’t stop him from taking a sip and making a refreshed ‘Ahhh’ noise, as he was apt to do.

They gave Jane their orders, and then fell into a silence as they waited, all of them sneaking glances over at Shadow when they thought they could get away with it. Or—well, in Webby’s case, she was still just kind of blatantly staring. It was honestly a miracle that Shadow hadn’t noticed yet. 

“Wait, wait, she’s getting up!” Webby said suddenly, reaching out and grabbing Huey’s forearm in a death grip.

They all looked over, and, sure enough, Shadow was saying something to her family as she slid past her sister and out of the booth. 

“She’s probably just going to the bathroom or something,” Louie reasoned.

“You mean  _ that _ bathroom?” Dewey asked, pointing a little ways from their table. 

“Oh,” Louie said. She would  _ definitely  _ have to walk right by them. “Well, are you ‘prepared’ yet, Webby?”

“What? No!” Webby squeaked. She frantically flicked her head over her shoulder at the approaching girl. “Don’t say anything!”

“Fine, I won’t, but—” Louie frowned. “Huey, what are you doing?”

Huey, who looked like he was trying to hide himself under the table, froze. “Um. I dropped something?”

“What’s  _ with _ you?” Webby hissed, reaching over and pulling him back up into his chair. “She doesn’t know what we look like! You’re just going to draw more attention by trying to hide!”

“I—” Huey’s eyes flicked about nervously. “It’s just—”

_ “Shut up!” _ Dewey whispered harshly, gesturing to where Shadow was almost on top of them with a jerk of his head.

Huey did shut up, but was sweating bullets as he stared at the tabletop. Louie just leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his Pep as Shadow walked past, doing his best not to look at her.

She gave a passing glance their way as she walked by, and raised a hand in a wave. “Oh, hey, Huey.”

Huey gave a strained smile and tried to return her wave, but his hand barely made it up to his shoulder, flopping about lamely. “H-hi, Lena…”

Louie nearly choked on his drink, managing to suppress a cough and swallow it down. Shadow didn’t look back as she traversed the remaining few yards to the restroom, and once she closed the door behind her, Louie slammed the glass back down onto the table. “Oh my  _ god _ Huey are you  _ trying _ to kill me?”

“Lena? You know her?!” Dewey’s voice was low, but on edge. “Or—she knows you? What? I’m so—what?!”

Huey put up his hands placatingly. “Look, I can explain! We— _ urk!” _

Huey went white as Webby grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him in close and giving him a death glare. “Oh, you  _ better _ be able to explain, Huebert.”

Huey gave a fearful look over to Louie and Dewey, but Dewey shook his head. “You’re on your own, man.”

Louie just took another long sip of Pep. “Aah.”

“So. Um.” Huey turned his attention back to Webby. “I’m friends with her sister. Except, um, I didn’t  _ know _ she was her sister until yesterday when I went over.”

“Book club girl?” Dewey asked.

Louie turned and looked over at Sha—er, at  _ Lena’s _ table. The girl there  _ did _ look rather familiar… “Wait, isn’t that the girl who called you a clown during your first Senior Woodchucks Trial before thoroughly kicking your ass?”

“Uh—yeah,” Huey said.

Webby tightened her grip on his collar, something Louie hadn’t thought possible. “And you didn’t  _ say anything?!” _

“She doesn’t know I’m Red, though!” Huey said. “She just thinks I’m a fan of our channel and saw her during the raid. I just… didn’t want to ruin what we had going with her and all.”

“You still could’ve told us that she literally lives in Duckburg!” Dewey protested.

Huey wasn’t able to reply, as Webby had started shaking him.  _ “Huey you absolute buffoon of a brother I am going to bake cookies and then not give you any and then when you ask for some I am going to look you dead in the eye and eat every single cookie I made all at once and then laugh at you and you will CRY!” _

“Um,” said Lena, who had emerged from the bathroom and was looking at them with not a small amount of concern.

Instantly, Webby lost her hold on Huey, who crashed back down onto his chair with a groan. She turned, met Lena’s eye, and proceeded to produce a long, shrill whine as her face grew increasingly red.

Lena looked across the table at Louie, who shrugged. “Siblings.”

“…Right.” Lena looked awkwardly over her shoulder, and then hurried off back to her table.

“So,” Dewey started, “that could’ve gone better.”

“She thinks I’m a weirdo!” Webby moaned, letting herself faceplant into the table. “Nooooo, no no no no no! This is terrible!” She turned a glare on Huey, who was struggling back to a sitting position, and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “This is all your fault!”

Huey shied away from her. “I’m sorry! Please don’t shake me again,” he pleaded. 

Webby just moaned again, and raised her head up only to let it fall back down again with a dull  _ thump. _ “It’s over. My chances are  _ ruined _ before I was even given a shot!”

“No, I think we can salvage this,” Louie said, reaching across the table and putting his hand on Webby’s shoulder. “We just need a plan.”

“Well…” Huey coughed.  _ “Technically, _ she still doesn’t know you’re SpiderWebby. So if we just never tell her—”

“Oh my god,” Dewey said, slapping a hand to his face. “Huey.”

“Okay, okay,” Huey mumbled. “We’ll do it your way.”

Webby looked up at Louie. “So? What’s the plan?”

“Well, you see,” Louie began. “The  _ plan… _ is quite simple, really. And ingenious. Easy in execution, but mind-boggling with regards to the intellect required for its conception. A plan, as they would say, to top all other plans.”

“You can just say you don’t have a plan,” Dewey interrupted.

“Oh look our food is here!” Louie said quickly, gesturing out towards Jane, who was approaching their table with a pair of trays balanced on her arms. “We can continue this discussion shortly, team.”

Webby sighed. “Ugh. This is  _ hopeless. _ She’s gonna end up hating me, and then that stupid streaming tabloid is gonna write a breakup article about us even though I never even got the chance to ask her out!”

“Girl trouble, huh?” Jane said, setting Webby’s pasta down in front of her.

“It’s… complicated,” Louie said.

“Sounds like it,” she said, distributing the rest of their meals. “Well, enjoy the food. Flag me down if you need anything else.”

“Thanks,” Webby murmured as she left.

“Hey, don’t be so pessimistic,” Dewey said. “Shadow already likes you! She just doesn’t know you’re  _ you.” _

“She likes my professional streaming personality,” Webby returned. “She doesn’t really know me that well.”

“You’re honestly not that different offline,” Huey said. “And I don’t think she is, either. We couldn’t have talked for more than two minutes, and she called me a nerd like three times.”

“Yeah, see? You got this,” Louie assured. “Besides, my ingenious plan is already germinating in my mind. It’s gonna blow you away.”

“All of you are ridiculous.”

They all jumped, turning to the new voice; it was the hummingbird girl. Lena’s sister.

“V-Violet?” Huey asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Eating dinner with my family,” Violet answered. “We’re celebrating because Lena recently became rather popular on this nifty thing called the internet. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”

“Okay, so…” Louie turned to Huey.  _ “She _ knows, right?”

“I do indeed know,” Violet said. “And while it pains me to cut short such an entertaining fiasco, it’s quickly becoming as painful as it is funny to watch.”

“Well maybe if  _ Huey _ had  _ told us _ that he  _ knew _ you guys then I wouldn’t have made a  _ fool _ of myself in front of her!” Webby cried. Her indignancy quickly melted back to melancholy, however, and she dropped her face into her hands. “Ugh, she probably thinks I’m… gah, I don’t know! Something bad!”

“When she returned to our table, she said you seemed ‘intense,’” Violet offered.

Louie shrugged. “I mean, that’s not  _ wrong.” _

“Could definitely be worse,” Huey agreed.

“I guess,” Webby muttered.

“Wait, but you’re her sister, right?” Dewey asked, smiling. “You can help us!”

“Help you with what, exactly?”

“Alright, everyone,” Louie said, cracking his knuckles. “Here’s the plan.”

* * *

When Lena had returned from the bathroom and told Violet about her friend possibly being murdered by his sister, she had quickly gotten up and gone to see what was going on for herself. Lena, personally, didn’t especially care; it wasn’t her business, and she wasn’t nosy. By the time Violet got back to their table, their waiter had already brought them their food. 

“Everything alright?” Ty asked as Violet slid into the booth. 

“Oh, yes,” Violet said. “I was just saying hi.”

Part of Lena wanted to point out that that was an awful long time to just say hi, but she decided to let it go, starting in on her sandwich. The four of them made idle chatter, and Lena was in the middle of a painful explanation to her parents about what ‘dogchamp’ was when a waitress approached their table and set a bowl of ice cream down in front of her. Lena stopped talking and raised an eyebrow, looking from the bowl to the waitress. Her name tag read ‘Jane’.

“Um, sorry, but I didn’t order—”

“Oh, I know you didn’t,” Jane said with a smile. “This comes courtesy of the pretty young lady at the other table.”

Lena glanced over and noticed that Jane was gesturing to Huey’s table. They were all looking at her; she made eye contact with the girl who had been manhandling Huey earlier, who gave her a quick little wave.

“Uhhh, okay?”

Jane just gave her a wink, and left.

“What was that about?” Ty asked.

“Look at the ice cream,” Violet prompted.

Lena did, and frowned when she noticed that it had been decorated with chocolate syrup in the shape of a heart. She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Indy laughed. “Looks like someone’s got an enthusiastic fan!”

“Violet, these are your friends, right?” Ty asked.

Violet nodded. “Indeed. No need for concern.”

Lena narrowed her eyes. “Vi, why is your friend’s sister buying me ice cream?”

“Perhaps she likes your streams?” Violet shrugged. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to say.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Lena mumbled. Well, whatever; free ice cream was free ice cream. She put it aside as she continued to eat her meal.

Until, not five minutes later, Jane came back with another bowl of ice cream.

“Seriously?” Lena said.

“Dead seriously,” Jane affirmed. “Seems you’ve got an admirer.”

Lena frowned as she walked off once again. “This is weird, right? Like, it isn’t just me?”

“You should have seen some of the things Ty did when he was trying to ask me out,” Indy joked, earning him an elbow to the ribs.

“Like you were any better,” Ty said. He peered at Lena’s new ice cream. “What’s that one supposed to be?”

Lena studied the ice cream; the syrup was in a less obvious pattern this time, with a thick blob in the middle and several strands coming out of it. “I… think it’s a spider?”

Indy scratched his head. “Okay, now that  _ is _ a bit strange. Why a spider?”

“I don’t know,” Lena said, taking a thoughtful bite of her sandwich.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Violet said. “Huey wanted me to tell you something.”

Lena glanced over at her. “…Yeah?”

“He says he’s sorry for lying to you yesterday.”

“Lying to me?” Lena looked back down at the spider ice cream. “Um, Vi? What did you say Huey’s sister’s name was?”

“I didn’t say,” Violet corrected. “But her name, I believe, is Webbigail.”

Lena took another bite as she looked scrutinously at Violet, then at the two ice creams, and then over at Huey’s table. He was wearing the same red polo shirt and hat he’d been wearing yesterday, his brothers were in a green hoodie and a blue T-shirt, and ‘Webbigail’ was dressed up all in… pink.

She stopped cold, awkwardly swallowed, and said, “Wait a second.”

Webbigail glanced over and caught her eye, but quickly looked away again, taking out her phone. A second later, Lena’s own phone buzzed, and she whipped it out faster than lightning. A single notification popped up on her lock screen:

**Disbird: SpiderShadow REAL!!1!** **  
** _ SpiderWebby: _ Ice to meet you…?

Lena stared at the notification in utter disbelief, only looking back up once it disappeared. When she did, Webby and her brothers were staring back at her; Webby and Huey looked nervous, Blue looked excited, and Green looked smug. (She had to force herself not to think of the ‘bluepumped’ and ‘greensmirk’ emotes from Webby’s chat—it was almost uncanny.)

“Lena?” Ty asked. “Is everything okay?”

Lena blinked. She looked down at her phone, the screen blank once more, looked back to Webby, looked down at the ice cream, looked back to Webby again, turned around to look at Violet, who was doing a very good job keeping the smirk in her eyes off of her beak, and then finally turned back to Webby before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. “Okay, what the hell.”

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Dryad**

_ “You’ll have to try harder than that.”  _ —Dryad (After respawning from Flora Effigy) 

Class: Bestial

  * Bestial heroes are inhuman creatures that fight with their latent magic and abilities. If left unchecked, these heroes will brute force their way straight through the enemy team. They’re good for players who like to take risks and make bold plays.



Role: Keeper

  * Keepers excel at holding down an area, preventing the enemy team from pushing forwards. They tend to struggle offensively, but if you’re attacking an area held by a Keeper, you better have a plan.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Thorn Gatling

  * Dryad shoots a steady stream of sharp thorns from her arm. They don’t do much individual damage, but will quickly chip away at her enemies’ health pools.



Alt Fire: Vine Whip

  * Dryad lashes out with a sturdy vine that wraps around an enemy Hero that it hits, damaging them preventing them from moving for 1s. 4s cooldown.



Primary Ability: Toxic Spores

  * Dryad produces a cloud of spores around herself in all directions. Enemies within the cloud will have decreased weapon accuracy and distorted vision, and take minor damage over time. The cloud disperses after 5s. 12s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Treeline

  * Dryad raises a wall of trees from the ground in front of her, preventing Heroes and attacks from passing through. The trees can be destroyed by shooting them, and disappear on their own after 10s. 18s cooldown.



Secret Technique: Flora Effigy

  * Dryad places down an Effigy of herself which lasts for 30s. The Effigy has 100 HP and can be destroyed. If Dryad is killed while the Effigy is still on the map, she will instantly respawn at its location with 75% health and all abilities on cooldown. This ability charges up slowly over time. 



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this a cliffhanger? I guess this is sort of a cliffhanger. I need to take a week off soon but I think I'll be merciful and do that _next_ chapter instead... See you then.


	7. Here Goes Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Webby, Huey, Dewey, and Louie invite Lena and Violet over for a sleepover.

Lena slid her phone back into her pocket and gave Webby a  _ look _ from across the restaurant. Webby just shrugged, grinning sheepishly, which made Lena bark out another laugh. This was  _ absurd. _ She excused herself from the table once more, then grabbed both bowls of ice cream and marched over to Webby’s table, a dumb smile on her face. 

“Hey,” she said. 

Webby giggled, looking a tad nervous. “Hey.”

Lena set one of the bowls of ice cream—the one with the heart—down in front of Webby. She looked up at Lena in confusion, but Lena just shrugged. “I can’t eat both of these, Pink. I still haven’t finished my dinner.”

“Not if you’re a coward you can’t,” Green said.

“Shut it,” Lena asided quickly before turning back to Webby. “I can’t  _ believe _ you did that. A pun? Really?”

Webby flushed. “W-w-well,  _ that _ part was Dewey’s idea!” she accused, pointing over at Blue. “Blame him!”

“Hey, you’re the one who went along with it!” Dewey countered. “Plus, it was  _ amazing! _ Did you see her face?”

“Wait, hold up a sec,” Lena said. “So, if  _ you’re _ Huey”—she pointed at Red—“and  _ you’re _ Dewey”—she pointed at Blue—“then what does that make  _ you?” _ she finished, her finger landing on Green. “I mean, are you, like, Louie, or something?”

The table went silent for a moment as the siblings all exchanged glances. 

“Well now I just feel stupid,” Green said, looking back up to meet Lena’s gaze.

“Oh my god, for real? You’re kidding me.” Lena felt her beak tilting up into a smirk. “That was a joke!”

“Look, it’s—they’re nicknames,” Huey explained. “It was cute when we were kids, and then it stuck.”

_ “I _ think it’s still cute,” Webby said.

Lena cackled. “Oh, oh, and  _ please _ tell me that this isn’t a coincidence and that you guys  _ always _ dress up in color-coded outfits.”

Dewey swallowed. “No comment.”

Lena burst out laughing. “That’s  _ hilarious! _ Really?  _ HA!” _

“It’s good for  _ visual distinction _ and it makes laundry  _ much more efficient!” _ Huey said with a huff. “You don’t understand!”

Lena snickered, trying her best to keep from bursting out laughing. “N-no, no, I understand perfffffffff _ AHAHAHAHAHA!” _

Dewey crossed his arms. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I bet nobody ever confuses  _ you  _ with your sister.”

“My sister the hummingbird? No, not often,” Lena said, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth to cool off. “Hoo, man. This is the best thing ever. You guys are  _ so _ much more fun to tease in person.”

“Well…” Webby brushed a strand of stray hair out of her face, tucking it behind her cute little bow. “It  _ is _ pretty great to meet you for real like this. You always seemed so cool online, and, um… I don’t know. This is just all so crazy, but in a good way. In the  _ best _ way.”

“No, totally,” Lena agreed. “Like, what the hell, right? How did something like this happen? There are, like, freak coincidences within freak coincidences, not to mention the fact that we actually get along super well so it’s more funny than awkward. It’s insane.” She laughed. “God, imagine how wild chat would go if we told them.”

Webby chuckled. “Yeah, that’d be crazy. Don’t, um, say anything, though. Not until we’re ready.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Lena said, nodded. She ate another bite of ice cream. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna doxx you guys. Your secret identities are safe with me.”

“Hey, at least now you know Webby wasn’t catfishing you when she kept flirting with you and calling you pretty,” Louie said.

Instantly, Webby grabbed her fork and stood up, leaning over the table with a growl.

“Hey, woah, that’s a fork!” Louie called in alarm, going from slouching lazily in his chair to practically falling out of it in panic in the blink of an eye. “Webby, that’s a fork!”

“I  _ know, _ Louie,” Webby said. “That’s the  _ point.” _

Dewey snickered. “Haha, get it? The point?”

“I’m about to  _ die _ and all you can do is make a  _ pun?” _ Louie said, aghast.

Lena swallowed another spoonful of her ice cream. “So, Webby, do you  _ always _ go Cain instinct on your brothers, or is it more of a ‘today’ thing?”

Webby froze, the fork raised above her head, and turned guiltily to Lena, as if she had forgotten she was there. “I—well—it’s just—”

“I mean, first you were trying to shake Huey’s brain out of his skull, now you’re trying to impale Louie…” Lena stuck her spoon back in her bowl and shrugged. “Just a trend I’ve noticed.”

“Yeah, she does that,” Huey confirmed. “She tried to cram me into the washing machine once when we were younger because I told her unicorns weren’t real.”

_ “AND I’D DO IT AGAIN!”  _ Webby roared, before once again noticing Lena out of the corner of her eye and letting out a squeak, falling back into her chair. It was kind of fascinating how quickly she switched from violently fratricidal to morbidly embarrassed, Lena thought. “I-I mean—I swear I’m normal! They bring out the worst in me!” 

Lena laughed, reaching out and flicking Webby’s bow. “You’re adorable, Pink. Well, I have to actually go back and, you know, eat my dinner, but maybe we can chat more tonight? And make a plan to actually hang out for real sometime, if you’d be interested.”

Webby nodded furiously. “I’d be very adorable I MEAN INTERESTED! I’d be very interested in you I MEAN IN PLANS! Interested in making plans,  _ with _ you! Huey  _ loves _ making plans, did you know that?”

“Uhhhh.” Lena blinked. “Are you okay?”

“I’M AMAZING HOW ARMMM _ mmmpphhh—” _

Louie, who had just leaned across the table to clamp Webby’s beak shut, gave Lena a flat look. “She’s fine. That sounds great, Lena.”

Behind him, Huey sighed, putting a hand up to his forehead, and Dewey smiled like nothing was wrong, giving Lena a double thumbs-up.

Well, who knows what that had been about. “Cool,” she said. “Catch y’all later.”

“Later!” Dewey called, waving her off.

She crossed the restaurant once more, the four of them speaking in frantic, hushed whispers and giggles as she left, and returned to her own table, setting down the now-empty ice cream bowl.

“I can’t believe your gamer buddies just so happened to be eating at the same restaurant we decided to go to tonight,” Violet said as Lena took her seat. “What an astronomical coincidence.”

“Shut up, Vi,” Lena said, picking her sandwich back up. “And… thanks.”

Violet smiled smugly. “You’re welcome.”

“I’m still confused,” Ty said.

Lena reached forward and patted him on the arm. “That’s okay, Dad.”

* * *

Webby took a deep breath as she pulled away from the Nine Parrots, fingers gripping the steering wheel of her convertible tightly. The car had been her seventeenth birthday present from Scrooge, which would be very generous if you didn’t think about the fact that he could probably buy her a small island without having to put much of a dent in his bin. But the car was the last thing on her mind as she turned out of the parking lot and made her way back towards the mansion. 

“What just happened?” she asked, to nobody in particular. “WHAT just happened?”

Dewey, today’s shotgun-caller, gave her a concerned look from the passenger seat. “Uh… You okay?”

“She called me  _ adorable,  _ Dewey!” Webby said. “Do you  _ think _ I’m okay?!”

“Hoo boy,” Louie mumbled. 

“See?” Huey said, in his I-told-you-so voice. “This is  _ exactly  _ the kind of freak out I was trying to avoid.”

“I’m still mad at you for not telling me, by the way,” Webby said.

Huey sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry, Webby. I should’ve said something.”

“I mean, it all worked out, right?” Dewey reasoned. 

“I guess,” Webby huffed. “But what are we supposed to do now?”

“She said she wanted to meet up.” Louie shrugged. “We could just, like, invite her over.”

“I… yeah.” Webby hummed, tossing a glance over her shoulder as she merged onto the highway. “You don’t think the whole ‘mansion’ thing would weird her out, do you?”

“Eh, doubt it,” Louie said. “I mean, she’ll probably make a lot of sarcastic jokes about us being rich kids, but that’s kind of a given.”

“Okay, well… I guess it would be pretty cool to have her over and get to know her better. Talk about stuff, share our other interests, maybe play some games…” Suddenly, Webby perked up. “Ooh, I just got the  _ best _ idea! What if we invited her over for a  _ sleepover?! _ Violet could come too!”

She couldn’t afford to glance away from the road to check their expressions, but Webby just  _ knew _ her brothers would be beaming in pure excitement at the idea. She was a genius! A sleepover was  _ perfect! _

“Uhhh,” Dewey said, which was kind of a weird way to express intense enthusiasm, but Webby was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“I don’t know, Webby,” Huey said. “Aren’t we a little old for sleepovers?”

Webby gasped.  _ “WHAT _ did you just say to me?”

“It’s just, well…” Huey paused. “I’m not sure she’d go for it?”

“That’s literally the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” Webby said sharply. “It’s a  _ sleepover. _ Everyone loves sleepovers! They’re the best!”

Louie sighed. “Webby, have you ever even  _ been _ to a sleepover before?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Oh my god,” Louie said.

“What!?” Webby exclaimed, taking a hand off of the steering wheel to throw it out in indignation. “It’s—look, what’s so weird about this?”

“I’m with Webby,” Dewey said. “I mean, our whole thing is playing games on the internet. Who cares about being too old for stuff? A sleepover could be fun!”

_ “Thank _ you,” Webby said. “You’re the best brother right now.”

“Ha! Take that, Huey.”

“Should I be offended that I’m apparently not in the running?” Louie asked.

_ “Are _ you offended?” Webby asked.

“I mean. No.”

“There you go.”

“Wait, wait,” Huey said. “She’s texting us.”

Webby’s eyes widened. “What? Now?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dewey pull out his own phone. “Oop—yep.”

“What’s she saying?” Webby asked frantically. 

“Hold on,” Huey said. “Okay, so, she says…”

* * *

**Group DM: ice to meet you (SpiderWebby, SeniorSeniorWoodchuck, JustDewIt, Pep4blood, ShadowGirl)**

_ ShadowGirl: _ okay my sister is driving me home so if u never hear from me again youll know why

_JustDewIt:_ What do you know MY sister is driving ME home right now!!

_ Pep4blood: _ lena did u change the gc name?

_ ShadowGirl: _ i trust webby 1000% more than vi when it comes to driving she has the twitch reflexes to back her up   
_ ShadowGirl: _ also yes i had to immortalize the pure mindfuck i felt in the moment i received that msg

_ Pep4blood: _ fine ill refrain from changing it for a little bit

_ ShadowGirl: _ thx

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: _ Webby says thank you, and also says she’s sure Violet is an excellent driver.

_ ShadowGirl:  _ o are u translating for her   
_ ShadowGirl: _ tell her to imagine what it would be like with one of u guys driving her around

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: _ Okay, so now she’s saying she’s very sorry for you, which is honestly rude.

_ JustDewIt: _ OH HEY you remember how you mentioned plans to meet up for reals?

_ ShadowGirl:  _ i can assure you i would never say ‘for reals’ literally ever but other than that yes

_ JustDewIt: _ Well webby said maybe you and violet could come over for a sleepover!   
_ JustDewIt: _ Maybe like Saturday at 7?

_ ShadowGirl: _ kadsgfjahsdgfs a sleepover   
_ ShadowGirl: _ fuck it. why not

_ JustDewIt: _ :D!!

_ Pep4blood: _ love that this is apparently happening   
_ Pep4blood: _ everything about all of this is completely batshit and im here for it honestly

_ ShadowGirl: _ asdkfasdhgfsd   
_ ShadowGirl: _ okay vi says shes in too and our dads r confused but trusting   
_ ShadowGirl: _ wait what the fuck vis saying u guys live in a mansion??

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: _ Oh um… 

_ Pep4blood: _ ye its pretty sweet

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: _ So, our great uncle is Scrooge McDuck?   
_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: _ Do you know him?

_ ShadowGirl: _ sounds familiar but not rlly

_ Pep4blood: _ hes the richest person in the world

_ ShadowGirl: _ wh   
_ ShadowGirl: _ is that hyperbole or like   
_ ShadowGirl: _ okay vi is telling me it isnt hyperbole. what the fuck

_ JustDewIt: _ yeah its kind of crazy

_ ShadowGirl: _ fuck do you think if i get on his good side i could get him to buy me a car or smth   
_ ShadowGirl: _ like hed have no sense of how much that costs right. could i convince him that a car is like a normal polite gift to give to a guest   
_ ShadowGirl: _ or like a new computer or some shit

_ Pep4blood: _ unfortunately hes extremely stingy   
_ Pep4blood: _ like obviously im not gonna sit here and tell you that we aren’t literally set for life, because we are, but he doesnt just let us buy whatever we want either

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: _ We’re trying to slowly educate him on the inherent immorality of hoarding wealth, but it’s a bit of process. He’s extremely old.

_ ShadowGirl: _ why is it that like every conversation i have w u people unveils some like life-shattering revelation i stg   
_ ShadowGirl: _ k well   
_ ShadowGirl: _ ima leave now to like, process   
_ ShadowGirl: _ but fuck i guess im gonna have the weirdest sleepover of my goddamn life this weekend. see yall saturday

_ JustDewIt: _ see you!!

* * *

In the days leading up to the hallowed sleepover, Lena streamed with the others a few times, but it wasn’t anything special; they obviously couldn’t talk about what had happened in front of chat, and while they occasionally talked a bit after their streams had ended or over Disbird, the conversations never really amounted to much beyond the usual pleasantries and teasing. The only real noteworthy moment was when Webby, through another one of her classic slips of the tongue, accidentally asked Lena ‘Would you go out with me?’—she  _ meant _ ‘Would you peek this corner at the same time as me so we have a better chance of beating the enemy if they’re waiting here,’ obviously, but the phrasing was extremely clippable, and both of their chats (as well as the triplets, of course) had immediately jumped on it.

Lena found the whole thing incredibly endearing; she knew, obviously, that Webby just mixed up her words a lot—especially in person, if their conversation at the Nine Parrots was anything to go by—but it was extremely unfortunate that these slip-ups kept coincidentally feeding into the ‘Webby has a crush on Shadow’ joke that had been plaguing their joint streams (and solo streams, apparently, as Webby admitted over Disbird on Friday). She felt a bit bad for Webby, but she seemed to be handling it in good spirits, and the one time Lena had asked if the jokes bothered her, Webby had gotten very stuttery but managed to say that, no, she didn’t mind at all, actually. 

Lena’s own stream had kept growing, too; she still had a long, long way to go before she reached Webby’s level, but her streams,  _ especially _ her solo ones when Webby wasn’t streaming, kept raking in more and more viewers each day. At this point, everyone who watched either of them viewed them as basically a package deal, and so Lena was able to rake in a lot of the cross traffic. And, well, she wouldn’t exactly be the next Scrooge McDuck anytime soon, but it certainly made her feel a lot less guilty about not being able to land a traditional summer job.

Speaking of Scrooge McDuck, Lena let out a whistle as she drove up Killmotor Hill. “You know,” she said, “I always wondered who lived in this place.”

“Clearly not enough to google extremely basic facts about Duckburg,” Violet said flatly from the passenger seat. “I still find it impressive that you had no idea who Mr. McDuck was despite the fact that he is by far the most famous resident of our town, and also literally owns the land the town was built on. And that’s impressive in a sad way, to clarify.”

“Okay, so I’m not the most up to date on things like ‘news’ or ‘history’ or ‘facts,’” Lena said, rolling her eyes. “But I  _ do _ have way more internet clout than you do.”

“Mmm, yes,” Violet said. “Truly, you have come out on top in this conversation.”

“I’m glad we agree.”

The car rolled to a stop as they approached a large, wrought-iron gate with a big, bold NO TRESPASSING sign on it.

“Well that’s welcoming,” Lena mumbled.

_ “Hello?” _ came a voice from a speaker next to the gate. It sounded like an older woman; perhaps a secretary of some kind?  _ “State your business.” _

“Violet and Lena Sabrewing,” Violet said, leaning out the window. “We are here on invitation from Webbigail?”

_ “Ah, of course,” _ the woman said.  _ “My granddaughter has told me much about you. Please, come in.” _

Lena exchanged a look with Violet as the speaker crackled out, and the gates swung open.

“Well,” Lena said, letting out a sigh. “Here goes nothing.”

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Werecat**

_ “GRRRWWWLLL!” _ —Werecat

Class: Bestial

  * Bestial heroes are inhuman creatures that fight with their latent magic and abilities. If left unchecked, these heroes will brute force their way straight through the enemy team. They’re good for players who like to take risks and make bold plays.



Role: Saboteur

  * Saboteurs appear when you least expect it, harassing the enemy team from flanks and off angles. They specialize in singling out vulnerable targets, taking them out in devastating surprise attacks, and then vanishing before they can get ganged up on.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Shriek

  * Werecat lets out a shrill screech, producing a damaging shockwave that bounces off of walls and pierces foes. It has an average fire rate, and deals constant, low damage to any enemies currently in contact with the shockwaves.



Alt Fire: Pounce

  * Werecat leaps forward a short distance. If Werecat collides with an enemy during a Pounce, she will bite them, dealing damage and inflicting Bleed for 3s. Enemies afflicted with Bleed will take damage over time. 2s cooldown.



Primary Ability: Sonic Burst

  * Werecat lets out a loud bark that Stuns any nearby enemies for 2s. Stunned Heroes cannot move, attack, or use abilities. 10s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Bloodlust

  * A passive ability that increases Werecat’s Bleed damage and move speed the lower her health is.



Secret Technique: Apex Predator

  * Werecat applies the Apex Predator buff to herself for 15s. While under the effects, Werecat’s Bloodlust ability is permanently locked at its strongest bonus regardless of her health, Werecat regains all damage she afflicts through Bleed effects as health, and Werecat is able to see enemy health bars.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm so, so, so flattered with how much you guys seem to love this fic. I love it too!! So to make sure I have the time I need to make it as good as it can be, I'm gonna have to take a break from updates for a short bit to get my feet under me again. The next chapter would normally be posted next Thursday, so my plan as it stands right now is to update next-next Thursday instead. If the plan changes I'll say something on my tumblr. Thanks for understanding, and I'll see you all then!


	8. Party Gaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Violet head over to McDuck Manor for a sleepover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this while my house has NO POWER because I am nothing if not committed to my fanfiction update schedules. Anyway I hope you enjoy aksdgfsdhgfsd

The mansion loomed over them as Lena and Violet stepped up onto the front porch, the fountain in the front yard gurgling away behind them. Lena reached up to take the large knocker on the front of the door, but before she could, it swung open revealing a strongly-built older woman in an apron and a dress that both looked a couple centuries out of fashion. She nodded at them, and stepped aside. “Please, come in.”

“Thanks,” Lena said, walking into the mansion. She looked around, trying not to seem too awed; this place was  _ huge. _ “You’re Webby’s grandmother, then?”

“I am,” she said. “You may call me Mrs. Beakley.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Beakley,” Violet said. “Would that make you Mr. McDuck’s sister, then? Or sister-in-law?”

Mrs. Beakley snorted. “Oh, heavens no. Fortunately, I’m just the housekeeper.”

Violet cocked her head to the side. “Really? But—”

“Oh! You’re here!” They were interrupted by Webby rushing down the stairs, smiling wide. “Hi!”

“Hey,” Lena greeted.

“Come on! I can give you a quick tour before showing you where to put your stuff.”

“That sounds lovely,” Violet said.

Mrs. Beakley nodded at them curtly before disappearing through one of the doorways, and Webby started rambling.

“So over that way is the east wing, that’s where we have the grand dining hall and the kitchen and the sitting room and the drawing room, and then over there is the west wing, with the ballroom, and the trophy room, and the game room, and the other ballroom. The garage is also off that way. But for the most part we’re probably going to be hanging out in the east wing, because, like, ballrooms are cool, but all that stuff is just Scrooge showing off how wealthy he is to party guests and stuff. Not much to actually do.”

“Uh huh,” Lena said, as if this was all perfectly normal.

“The guest rooms are upstairs, though, so if you’ll just follow me!”

Webby waved them after her as she bounded up the giant stairway in the entrance hall, Lena and Violet following behind. Lena couldn’t help but stare up in bewilderment at the gigantic portrait of who could only be Scrooge McDuck that hung above the stairs; this really was something else.

Webby and the others had explained to them over Disbird that they could stay in the guest rooms instead of doing the traditional sleeping bag thing, which Lena appreciated, because she was pretty sure she didn’t even own a sleeping bag and also she would not turn down the chance to sleep in a king sized bed for the night.

“So that way is where Scrooge, Granny, Donald, and Dellas’ rooms are, though Donald usually sleeps in his house boat in the pool,” Webby explained, gesturing to the left.

Violet cocked her head. “In the pool?”

“Your rooms are this way!” Webby said, walking in the opposite direction and ignoring Violet. “This one’s mine—or, well, my bedroom is actually in the loft above this room, but it’s still my room—I get two rooms because I’m the best—and then this one’s Dewey, that one’s Louie, and that one’s Huey.” She pointed out a series of doors in the hall. “They actually shared a room with a triple bunk bed until they were fourteen! Oh, except I’m not supposed to tell people that because it embarrasses them. They have separate rooms now, though!”

Lena nodded. “Okay, I definitely won’t tease them about that later then.”

“And then these are your rooms!” Webby concluded, arriving at a pair of doors. “You can drop your stuff off and meet us back in the entrance hall. I’ll go get the boys! I’m so excited!”

“Really?” Lena said. “I had no idea.”

“Well, I am! OH, you’re being sarcastic. I get it!” Webby gave her an impossibly wide smile. “I guess it’s pretty obvious, huh? I’ve never had a sleepover before! This is gonna be great! Okay see you soon!”

“You were right,” Violet said as Webby rocketed down the hall. “She is kind of intense.”

Lena smiled. “Yeah. I think it’s cute.”

“Mmhmm. I bet you do.”

Lena turned, giving Violet an odd look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Violet opened the door to her room, gave Lena one of her classic unreadable gazes, and disappeared inside.

* * *

Webby’s sleepover was going  _ great. _ Jokes were being made, fun was being had, games were being played… She didn’t exactly have a great metric for sleepover success, but, well, she was pretty sure that this was a great one. Lena seemed to be enjoying herself, at least. And obviously Webby cared about everyone else enjoying themselves as well, but she wasn’t going to sit here and lie to herself: she cared about Lena the most.

They’d bounced around between a few games, both video and board, over the past few hours, but as the night grew long, they decided to play some Super Smash Ducks to wind down, since it didn’t exactly require a lot of intense strategic thinking. They were doing a kind of boys versus girls thing—it was relatively even, considering that Violet hadn’t ever played before. The boys were winning more often than not, but it was usually close; like in the current game, where Louie and Lena were both down to their very last life.

“Pikachu is so annoying to fight against,” Louie grumbled as he mashed away at his controller.

“Ha!” Lena let out a snort, her eyes laser-focused on the screen. “That’s  _ rich _ coming from a Game & Watch player.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? He’s just a funky little dude.”

“He’s  _ obnoxious,” _ Lena said.

Louie gasped. “How could you say that?! He’s  _ literally _ just a funky little dude.”

“He does have some moves that are pretty exploitable,” Huey said.

“Who’s side are you on?” Dewey accused.

Huey rolled his eyes. “I’m just  _ saying.” _

Webby ignored her brothers, her eyes solely focused on Lena as she leaned forward on the couch, her tongue poking out the side of her beak in concentration. Webby smiled; it was cute. Unsurprising, really—Lena was extremely cute. The cutest. And the prettiest. And, haha, wow, she really had to stop before she started blushing again. 

It was possible that Webby had a problem. It was fine, though. Totally fine. Everything under control. Fine, fine, fine.

“C’mon,” Lena grumbled as she jumped around the stage after a retreating Louie. “Get back here you stupid little—ha!” 

Louie let out a desperate “Noooooo!” as Pikachu shocked Mr. Game & Watch with a big ball of electricity, sending him careening off the side of the screen.

_ “GAME!” _ cried the announcer.  _ “Blue team wins!” _

“Good game, guys!” Webby chirped.

“Would’ve been a  _ better _ game if we’d won,” Dewey grumbled.

Violet sighed, leaning back on the couch and setting her controller down. “Whew. I might be at my limit for this. Honestly, it’s impressive to me that you can even keep up with what’s happening; there’s so much going on.”

Webby laughed. “Granny says the same thing. I don’t know, I guess you just get used to it. I’ve been playing video games my whole life, basically. There wasn’t a whole lot else to do.”

“Honestly, I’m a little surprised you  _ don’t _ play video games,” Dewey said. “I think that, like, every other person I know around our age plays at least a  _ little _ bit.”

Huey frowned at him. “Dewey, you know like ten people max around our age, and half of them are in this room.”

Dewey crossed his arms. “Well, it’s still true. There’s no need to be  _ rude.” _

“I think Dewey’s got a point,” Louie said. “I mean, what do you do all day? Read? Like some sorta  _ nerd?” _

Violet gave him a flat stare. “Yes, actually. Perhaps you should try it out sometime. You might learn something.”

“Ooh, I  _ love _ reading,” Webby said, clasping her hands together. “I did that a lot too as a kid! But after I got through everything in Scrooge’s personal library, I kind of ran out of material.”

Lena blinked. “Wait, like, everything? Like, every single book?”

“I had a lot of free time,” Webby said.

“So, when you say ‘personal library,’ do you mean like a bookcase in his office?” Lena asked. “Or like…”

“Well, it’s…  _ next _ to his office,” Webby said sheepishly. “In its own, uh, dedicated room of the mansion.”

“It has over a thousand books,” Huey said.

“A  _ lot _ of free time,” Webby stressed.

“Jeez, Pink,” Lena said. “Didn’t you do anything else besides sit around reading and playing video games?”

“I… well.” Webby sighed. She supposed she may as well say it; they’d find out one way or another. “Not really. Granny didn’t allow me to leave the mansion for the first ten years of my life.”

“Excuse me?” Violet said, her eyes suddenly growing a bit sharp. “Not at all?”

“Well, I ran errands with her sometimes and stuff, but, uh. Well, like I said, this is my first sleepover I’ve ever been to, if that… puts things in perspective.”

“Oh my god,” Lena said. Her face was somewhere between shocked and disgusted, and Webby couldn’t help but look away. “What the fuck? She didn’t even let you have any friends?”

Webby shifted on the couch, fiddling anxiously with the joystick on her controller. “It… wasn’t that she didn’t want me to make friends. I just wasn’t allowed to go outside, and I was homeschooled, which made friends, um—hard to find.”

Violet exchanged a look with Lena before clearing her throat. “Forgive my asking, Webbigail, but why exactly weren’t you allowed out of the mansion? That seems rather… extreme.”

Louie snorted. “Yeah, more like batshit paranoid.”

Huey shushed Louie, elbowing him. Webby shot both of them a look before turning back to Lena and Violet. “That’s, um, classified.”

Lena raised an eyebrow. “Classified? Webby, it’s cool if you don’t want to talk about it, but—”

“No, I mean it’s actually, legally, governmentally classified information, and—” Webby groaned, letting her face fall into her hands. “Oh, god, you think I’m crazy…”

“No!” Lena assured quickly, reaching out and putting her hand on Webby’s shoulder. It was warm. “No, I don’t think you’re crazy, I just—wasn’t expecting it to  _ actually _ be, like, that big of a secret. I mean, you live with the richest dude in the world, so it’s pretty believable there’d be some stuff like that surrounding him.”

“It isn’t  _ that _ classified, is it?” Dewey asked confusedly, turning to his brothers.

Huey winced. “It’s… pretty classified. Even if Beakley’s retired and there’s no active threat, it’s—er, well, that is—I should stop talking.”

“Great job, Huey,” Louie said, patting him on his hat.

“That really sucks, though,” Lena said. “Like, a lot.”

“Yeah,” Webby said. “Yeah, it did. I got through it though.”

“What about you three?” Violet asked, eyeing the triplets. “Were you allowed outside?”

“Oh, we didn’t grow up in the mansion,” Huey said. “We moved in when we were ten.”

“Before that we lived in a boring old boat out on the docks,” Dewey said, crossing his arms. 

“And we were really poor,” Louie said. “Because Scrooge was kind of an ass and didn’t want to help out our uncle even though he was literally swimming in money and Uncle Donald lived in a boat and was raising his sister’s three kids as a single parent.”

“After these guys moved in, things got a lot better for all of us,” Webby said. “They were able to get out of poverty, and I was able to make some friends. Granny started easing up on the restrictions, too. So we got really close, and… well, that’s how I became their sister.” She giggled, elbowing Dewey in the ribs, which made him whine in pain. “For better or for worse.”

“You all have a complicated family structure,” Violet observed.

“That’s what makes it so fun!” Webby said cheerfully. “I mean, I’m not even officially adopted or anything, but I can still be a part of the family. I think that’s great!”

Lena smiled at her, and Webby suddenly found it hard to look away. “Hell yeah. I super get that. I mean, obviously I’m adopted, and the Sabrewings have just been… so great to me.”

Violet gasped dramatically, swiveling around to look at Lena. “You’re  _ adopted?!” _

Lena rolled her eyes, kicking out at her sister. “I swear to god. She does this every time.” 

“Why didn’t you  _ tell _ me?” Violet insisted.

“Shut up.”

“How old were you when you were adopted?” Webby asked. “If you, uh, don’t mind me asking. I guess this has all gotten pretty personal.”

“Aw, come on,” Louie said, waving a hand. “It wouldn’t be a sleepover if we didn’t start sharing deep and troubling family histories.”

“Exactly,” Lena said. “Besides, I don’t mind talking about it. I was adopted when I was eight. Or, well, pretty much when I was nine, actually; my birthday was only a few days after the papers were signed.” She smiled, getting a wistful look in her eye. “It was great. We had a big cake and everything. That’s the first time my birthday ever really felt like something to celebrate, and not just… another year of nobody wanting me.”

Webby frowned at that, exchanging a look with Huey. Violet reached out and gave Lena a half-hug with one arm.

“Wow, that’s really depressing,” Dewey said.

“Dewey!” Webby chastised. “You can’t just—ugh!”

“I mean he’s right,” Louie said.

“Still,” Huey said, tone heavy.

Dewey shifted. “Uh—sorry.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Lena said. “It did suck a lot. It hurts, you know? Not feeling like you have a place to belong. Apparently, I have a living aunt who was  _ supposed  _ to be my legal guardian, but either she didn’t want anything to do with me, or she wasn’t deemed fit to raise me, or  _ something. _ I haven’t pursued the details. I have a great family now; they’ll do just fine.”

“I’m glad we’re sufficient for you, Lena,” Violet said.

Lena shot her a scrutinous look. “Well, honestly, Vi, if you’re taking criticism, you’d be a lot more sufficient if you would stop drinking all the chocolate milk so quickly.”

“I believe the common saying, Lena, is that if one is to choose to snooze, then one is to choose, in turn, to lose,” Violet said, enunciating the point with a wag of her pointer finger. “It’s not my fault you wake up after ten most days.”

“Yeah, and it isn’t my fault you wake up at fucking  _ six in the morning,” _ Lena returned.

“Ugh, you should try living with  _ Louie,” _ Dewey said, rolling his eyes. “We live in a freaking  _ mansion _ with like four pantries and he  _ still _ manages to eat all the snacks.”

Louie shrugged. “It’s not my fault I’m greedy and gluttonous.”

“Yes it is!” Huey protested. “It really, really is!”

Louie just shrugged again, and then let out a yawn. “Ugh. What time is it?”

“Late,” Huey answered, picking up the remote and switching off the TV. “Very late. We should probably turn in or Dewey’s gonna fall asleep on the couch again.”

Webby felt her heart sink. She could feel the bags under her eyes, sure, but they were having so much fun! “Are you sure?”

“Y’all go to bed early,” Lena said.

“And your sleep schedule is frankly concerning,” Violet said, sliding off the couch. “Come on. I would like to get home  _ before _ dinner tomorrow.”

“Fiiiine,” Lena sighed, getting up. 

Lena turned to Webby and ran a hand through her bangs, the pink tips shining in the light of the chandelier as the hair slipped between her fingers. It was mesmerizing; she had such pretty hair. And pink, too! Webby loved pink.

“Pink?” Lena asked.

“I love pink,” Webby mumbled.

“No, Webby, I—” Lena frowned. “I asked you where the bathroom was? So I can get ready for bed?”

“What? Oh! Your, um, rooms should have their own bathrooms.”

Lena blinked. “Right. Mansion. You good, by the way? You seem a little out of it.”

Webby smiled as non-suspiciously as she could. Judging by the disappointed look on Louie’s face off to the side, she was doing a bad job. “Must just be a bit more tired than I realized, haha. Well, uh, have a good night! We’ll clean up the games here.”

“Are you sure?” Violet asked.

“Yep!” Webby said, nodding vigorously. “Super sure!”

“Well, goodnight, then,” Lena said, waving her off as she and Violet headed for the stairs. 

Webby let out a relieved breath as they disappeared. That had been close.

“Wow,” Huey said, propping a hand up on his hip as he gave Webby a dumbfounded stare. “You  _ really _ have it bad.”

“I know,” Webby whined. “Oh my god, guys, it’s  _ so _ bad. She’s  _ so _ much prettier and funnier in person, I’m—look, okay, like—look.” She took a deep breath. “Before, when I talked with her, I was looking at, well, you know, the game. Not her face. It’s  _ so _ much harder to talk to her when I’m looking at her face at the same time.”

“We’ve noticed,” Louie said. “Well, at least she doesn’t seem to have picked up that you really do have a crush on her yet.”

“Somehow,” Dewey added.

“Yeah. A miracle, honestly,” Louie said.

“What should I do?” Webby asked.

“Tell her how you feel,” Huey said.

“Ask her out,” Dewey said.

“Yearn from afar until she confesses to you first,” Louie said.

Webby’s eyes widened, and she turned to Louie. “You really think that will work?”

“No,” Louie said, looking at her flatly. “You need to tell her, dummy.”

“Right,” Webby said, sighing. “Yeah. I’ll get right on that.”

They swiftly cleaned up everything from that evening, and then went to their own rooms. Webby brushed her teeth, washed her face, changed into her pajamas, did her before-bed stretches, and then, finally, settled into bed, pulling up the covers and squishing the sword horse plushie Louie had gotten her for her fourteenth birthday up against her chest. 

She didn’t have to confess to Lena tonight. She didn’t even have to  _ think _ about Lena tonight. She just needed to get some rest, and come at this with a clear head tomorrow. She was Webby Vanderquack—she could do anything! A crush was  _ nothing. _ She’d conquer this in no time. But, again, that was for later; right now, she just needed to get some sleep.

An hour later, when Webby was still wide awake, staring up at the ceiling with anxious thoughts about a certain girl whirling through her brain, she let out a groan. This might be harder than she anticipated.

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Priest**

_ “No one can hide from the light!”  _ —Priest (After hitting an enemy with Light Dart) 

Class: Arcane

  * Arcane heroes fight with spells and magic rather than traditional weaponry. They have more unusual abilities that drastically change the way you have to play the character. In the right hands, these heroes can singlehandedly turn the tide of battle.



Role: Keeper

  * Keepers excel at holding down an area, preventing the enemy team from pushing forwards. They tend to struggle offensively, but if you’re attacking an area held by a Keeper, you better have a plan.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Radiant Beam

  * Priest fires a persistent beam of magic from his staff that deals steady damage to any enemy it’s trained on. The beam has relatively low damage, but is perfectly accurate and has a very long range. 



Alt Fire: Light Dart

  * Priest shoots a fast-moving dart of magic out from his staff, dealing damage and Revealing any enemy it hits for 3s. Revealed enemies can be seen through walls by Priest and his teammates. 8s cooldown.



Primary Ability: Lay On Hands

  * Priest heals himself or an ally for 100 HP over 5s. 30s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Blinding Flash

  * Priest conjures a bright light from his staff, Blinding all enemies who are looking at him for 2s. 12s cooldown.



Secret Technique: Divine Sentinel

  * Priest summons a Divine Sentinel at his location. The Sentinel will automatically target enemies in its line of sight and shoot Holy Missiles at them, which explode for high damage. The Sentinel will vanish after 10s, or after sustaining 200 damage. This ability charges up slowly over time. 




	9. Sleep is for Noobs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena wakes up in the middle of the night. Turns out she wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping.

_ Lena walked down the stairs, looking into the kitchen. Violet was there. _

_ “Violet? Are you drinking all the chocolate milk again?” _

_ Violet rolled her eyes, the glass of chocolate milk in her hands spilling out the sides. “Ugh, Lena. Look what you made me do.” She put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” _

_ “No?” Lena raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think so?” _

_ “Right out there,” Violet said, pointing to the door off to the side. “Come on.” _

_ Lena turned the handle and stepped out into the Forest Village. She raised her hand, and it sparked with black-purple magic. _

_ “Lena, the point,” Huey said, gesturing towards the large cabin at the center of the map. His wizard hat flopped around, a size too big for him. “We’ve got to capture the point.” _

_ “Yeah,” Lena said. “Of course. That’s what I’m doing.” _

_ She was standing at the entrance to the cabin. Dewey was in front of her, shooting his fire breath all around, his large, leathery dragon wings flapping with slow, powerful beats. He met her eye, then cried out in alarm. “Behind you!” _

_ Lena swiveled around, putting her back up against the cabin wall. Louie was sitting on a nearby crate, smirking at her and twirling his dagger around his finger. “Tch… Pathetic. I was gonna backstab you, but what’s the point if you’ve already been robbed?” _

_ “Robbed of what?” Lena asked. _

_ “Your heart,” Louie said. And then with a puff, he vanished. _

_ In the same instant, Webby came shooting out from behind the crate, her booted foot slamming into Lena’s chest and knocking her to the dirt. The trees towered above them, and Webby grinned triumphantly under her feathered cap. “Gotcha!” _

_ “What do you want, Pink?” _

_ “Oh… what every girl wants.” _

_ Webby drew back her longbow, pointing it right at Lena’s head. She released the string with a reverberant  _ twang, _ and Lena closed her eyes, bracing for impact. Sure enough, she felt something collide against her beak, and she leaned forward into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Webby’s shoulders.  _

_ When she opened her eyes, they were sitting on the couch in Lena’s living room, watching her stream on the TV. The version of herself on the stream seemed intent on whatever she was doing, eyes focused on the screen in front of her. _

_ “Boosted,” said chat through the television. “You’re just riding coattails.” _

_ “I don’t wear a coat,” Lena responded from the couch. _

_ “It is getting colder out,” Webby said absently. _

_ “Webby’s streams were so much better before you joined,” chat said from the TV. _

_ Lena bristled. “That’s not true.” _

_ Chat scoffed. “Don’t you ever shut up? We’re not here for you.” _

_ Webby turned, looking up at Lena with wide eyes. “I’m here for you.” _

_ “Thanks,” Lena said. _

_ On the stream, the door to Lena’s room opened, and Violet stuck her head in, looking directly at the camera. “Five minutes, Lena.” _

_ “I know,” Lena said, waving her off. She turned to Webby. “Are you staying for dinner?” _

_ Webby hummed. “I was— _

Lena’s eyes snapped open to the creaking and groaning of the floorboards outside the guest room. She herself creaked and groaned as she sat up in bed, rubbing at her eyes. That had been a weird dream, what with all the… stuff… that had happened, and… something about a coat?

Ugh. She could never remember her dreams.

She flopped down to try to fall back asleep, but she found it wasn’t coming. She was getting a bit hot under the fancy duvet, and her throat was dry, and—well, it just wasn’t working out. With a sigh of resignation, she threw off the covers and rolled out of bed, dragging herself into the hallway and down the stairs. She squinted as she looked around, trying to remember where Webby had said the kitchen was, when she spotted a light on a bit deeper into the mansion.

She tuned into her inner moth and maneuvered her way towards the light, only banging her limbs on door frames a couple times. As she drew closer, she could make out a faint, hummed melody coming from the room, bright and cheerful. A few paces away from the doorway to what she could now see was, luckily, a kitchen, the humming stopped, and a voice called out. 

“Hello?”

Lena poked her head in. Webby was standing over by the fridge, holding a big mug in front of her with two hands.

“Hey,” Lena said.

“Oh, Lena! Hi!” Webby smiled, but it quickly wavered. “Oh, no, did I wake you?”

“I—yeah, a little bit,” Lena admitted. “It’s not your fault, though. I think sleeping in a different bed’s got me a bit jumpy.”

“That makes sense. I’m still sorry, though.”

“Well, apology accepted.” Lena nodded towards her mug. “What’ve you got there?” 

“Hm?” Webby looked down, as if she’d forgotten what she was holding. “Oh, this is hot cocoa. Do you want some?” She gestured to a nearby pot on the counter. “I made more than I should probably drink.”

“You made yourself hot chocolate at…” Lena checked the microwave clock. “Three AM?”

“I, uh, couldn’t fall asleep,” Webby said, turning her gaze away.

Lena shrugged. “Fair enough. Where do you keep your mugs?”

Webby showed her, and a few seconds later, Lena was carefully nursing her own cup of cocoa, leaning against the kitchen counter. “So, what’s been keeping you up?” Lena asked. “I mean, if you want to talk about it.”

Webby was quiet for a second, staring down into her mug. “Just thoughts.”

“Thoughts?”

“Thoughts. Too many thoughts. Brain won’t shut off.”

“Oh, yeah.” Lena nodded sympathetically. “I get that sometimes too. I guess things have been a bit wild lately.”

“Yeah,” Webby said. “Yeah.”

Lena took a sip of her hot chocolate. It was really quite good. She might have to steal some of their rich kid cocoa mix before they left in the morning.

“Are you doing alright?” Webby asked. “With your stream and everything, I mean.”

Lena looked up. “Hm? What do you mean?”

“It’s just, I know we kind of dumped a lot on you pretty quickly. One minute, you weren’t in the public eye at all, and the next, people were writing articles about you. I just want to make sure you aren’t getting overwhelmed.”

“Well… It is a bit overwhelming,” Lena said. “But in a good way, I think. I’ve been having so much fun playing with you and the boys, and even if the attention is a lot more than I’m used to, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, I’m making a sizable amount of money from donations now, which makes everything a lot more palatable.”

Webby chuckled. “Right. I’m glad. I just remember that it was even a lot for me when I blew up, and that wasn’t nearly as quick as it was for you. It’s kind of strange to be… famous, suddenly.”

“Well, weren’t you already kind of famous? I mean, Scrooge is the richest dude on the planet.”

“That fame doesn’t trickle down as much as you might think it would. Especially not to me—I mean, I’m not even properly related to him. I don’t know if I’m even in the will.”

Lena frowned. “But… you’re a part of the family. You have been for years. It seems like kind of a dick move not to put you in for the inheritance.”

“Oh, yeah, I’d be ticked. But I’m pretty confident he’ll include me—for all his faults, I think he’s learned to at least value his family. My point is more that most people outside the family don’t see it that way, so even when we  _ do _ get media attention, I tend to be able to dodge most of it.” She waved a hand. “I’m getting off track, though. Not even the boys really have any fame because of their relation to him. We might attend a few fancy business parties sometimes, sure, and obviously we’re rich, but we’re not getting recognized on the street or anything. And since none of us actually share the McDuck last name, that makes it even easier to fly under the radar.” She shrugged. “So, yeah, streaming was the first time I ever had this kind of a spotlight, really.”

Lena nodded. “I guess that makes sense. It’s still so strange to me. The richest person in the  _ world, _ and I’m only a degree of separation away from him.”

Webby chuckled dryly. “Yeah, it’s… I mean. It’s a thing.”

Lena got the sense that Webby didn’t really like talking about this, so she didn’t push, and the two of them drifted off into a comfortable, hot chocolate-filled silence.

“What’s it like to be a popular streamer?” Lena asked softly after a few moments. “I’m getting more subscribers every day now. I feel like I should be prepared.”

Webby adopted a thoughtful expression, staring off at the wall and tapping a finger against her mug. “Well… I’ll give you an example. Remember back when we first met, when Huey and Louie were explaining to you why I’m the ‘main’ channel, and why I’m kind of the face of all four of us?” Webby said.

“Uh, yeah,” Lena said. “Something about algorithms and consolidating viewers.”

“Yeah,” Webby said. “And that’s all true, for sure. But there’s another, more personal reason that I prefer it this way. Internet fame is… complicated. There’s a lot of good stuff about it—we have social influence, we have a platform, we can support smaller streamers and give them success, like we did with you. But there’s also the bad parts.”

“…Like?”

Webby sighed. “Like hate comments, and constant complaints, and gross internet dudes, and people who try to put you down just for the rush or whatever, and people who scrutinize everything you say to so they can slam you with a ‘problematic’ label for a few Twitter likes, and the resulting constant pressure not to screw up or offend anyone or do something stupid that could make any of that worse than it already is. Except you can’t be perfect, and you can’t please everyone, so it’s pretty much hopeless.”

“Oh.” Lena swallowed. “That… Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. I’m a bit surprised, though; your chat seems so nice.”

“My  _ chat _ is fine,” Webby said. “They’re really sweet, and I’ve got a great team of community mods for the bad eggs. But I’m… I mean, I’m a big streamer. And I’m a girl. And I’m gay.”

“I… right.” Lena sighed. “I never even thought about that stuff. I guess that was pretty naive of me.”

“I mean, that’s why you asked, right? Besides, it sounds worse than it is. The block button exists for a reason, and I’m pretty good at staying positive and remembering that there are tons of people who really enjoy me and my stream, or have even felt represented or validated by me, and no amount of petty hate can take that away. But it’s partially why I’m glad that I’m the face of our channel—I can kind of take the brunt of the ugly stuff for my brothers.”

“Is… that better, though?” Lena asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier for you guys to share that responsibility? It shouldn’t all be on your shoulders.”

Webby sighed. “Maybe. I don’t know. I know it isn’t by a lot, but I  _ am _ older than them, so I feel a certain measure of responsibility on that front.” She smiled. “Even  _ if _ Huey still acts like he’s the oldest.”

Lena laughed. “Oh, he totally does.”

Webby chuckled a bit under her breath. “Yeah. But, no, I mean… Louie and Dewey both have some pretty serious self esteem issues, and Huey and Louie both have really bad anxiety, and Dewey and Huey both struggle with anger sometimes and can have trouble holding back from defending themselves… Not that I don’t have mental stuff going on too, because, I mean, you’ve talked with me for more than five seconds, it’s kind of obvious, but—I don’t know. I feel like this is something I’m actually sort of good at. It’s like I said; I’m good at staying positive.”

“Okay,” Lena said. She took a sip of hot chocolate, warming her tongue and the back of her throat, and then brought the mug back down to her chest with a small exhalation. “I guess all of that makes sense. But do you at least talk with them about it? Or talk with someone? You may not have anxiety or whatever, and you may be a positive person, but there’s no way all of that doesn’t hurt. You shouldn’t just keep it bottled up.”

Webby was quiet for a long while. “I mean… I’m talking about it now, I guess.” 

Lena frowned. “Webby.”

“Look, it isn’t an easy thing to bring up, okay? It’s… difficult to talk about.”

“You seem to be doing pretty well at the moment.”

Webby looked away, voice quiet. “This is different. You’re different.”

“Oh,” Lena said. She blinked. “Not to be rude, but, um, why? Is it because you don’t know me as well?”

“Maybe a little bit of that, but mostly it’s just…” Webby sighed, setting her now-empty mug down on the counter. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t be dumping this all over just anyone. You… I mean, you’re right, I don’t really know you, But I still feel like I could tell you  _ anything. _ You know? I could tell you anything, and I know you won’t make light of it, or make fun of me for it, or make me feel bad about it. You’ll listen. I don’t even know  _ how _ I know that, really; I just know I feel safe around you. And… I really appreciate that. Maybe this is coming on too strong or something, or maybe I’m just tired, but I think you’re a really special person, Lena.”

Lena sat in silence, taking that in. Letting the words soak into her. And, jeez, what words they were. And there, leaning up against the kitchen counter in the dim three AM light, Lena was only able to reach one conclusion.

“Oh my god,” she said, staring at Webby. Webby was staring back, looking a bit nervous, but holding her gaze strongly. “You really  _ do _ have a crush on me, don’t you?”

Webby’s eyes widened. “What? I—well—but—you—it’s just—I—I mean—and—um—” Eventually, she seemed to give up, bringing her hands up to cover her burning face and letting out a high-pitched whine.

“You  _ do!” _ Lena said, a smile spreading across her face. “Oh my god, I thought it was just a joke!”

“I know! I know, that’s what makes it so  _ embarrassing!” _ Webby cried, falling back against the pantry door. “This is all your fault!”

_ “My _ fault?”

“Yes! You’re… You’re too pretty! And too nice! And too funny! It’s not fair!” Webby huffed, moving her hands from covering her entire face to just her cheeks. “I mean, I didn’t stand a chance!”

Suddenly, Lena found herself blushing, too, and looked away awkwardly. “I don’t know about all that, Pink,” she said, rubbing at her neck. 

“Lena, I  _ literally _ called you pretty live on stream when I first saw you because it hit me so hard.”

“Okay, well, fine, whatever,” Lena said, setting her own cup down and crossing her arms. “You shouldn’t sell yourself short either, though.”

Webby looked over at her. “What do you mean?”

“Well… You’re pretty cute yourself, you know. You’re also, like, the sweetest person I’ve ever met. And you’re so passionate, and you care so much about everything and everyone around you. So, well, I don’t know, I guess I like you a lot too.”

“Oh,” Webby said, her hands dropping into her lap as she sat up a little straighter, finally meeting Lena’s eyes. Her own were wide, and shining with a sparkle of excitement. “You really mean that?”

Lena shrugged. “Yeah. You’re pretty amazing, Webby. I’m glad we met. And… glad we met again after that?”

Webby laughed. “Yeah, it’s a little silly. I’m glad, too, though.” She swallowed. “So, um—when you say you like me a lot too, do you mean…?”

“What?” Lena asked, until it hit her a second later. “Oh! Um. Yes?” She coughed. “I didn’t ever, really, like, think about it too much, I guess, but yeah, I’m pretty sure that the things I’m feeling are, like. Yeah. Those kinds of feelings.”

Webby nodded, beak pursed tight. And then, suddenly, she blurted out, “So do you want to kiss?”

Lena nearly fell, and had to frantically grab onto the counter to stabilize herself. “W-what?”

“SHOOT I mean do you wanna maybe go out sometime?” Webby corrected hastily; she was bright red, all the way to her ears, and Lena wasn’t sure she was much better. “I didn’t mean—I just—forget I said that other thing!”

They stared at each other for a few more seconds in tense silence before Lena broke out into a laugh. “Oh my  _ god, _ Pink. Did you really just—?”

“Look, it’s—it was—” She groaned. “Ugh, I’m making a fool of myself. I’m so sorry, that wasn’t appropriate, I’m just—I’m a total mess. Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s—you’re fine,” Lena said, still giggling. “I’d  _ love _ to go out with you sometime.”

“Okay,” Webby said, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Cool. Okay. God. I’m so sorry Lena, I  _ promise _ I’m not this much of a disaster all the time. It’s just, this is happening at three in the morning and I wasn’t prepared, and—god, okay, to be honest, I don’t know why I’m making excuses, I’m  _ absolutely _ this much of a disaster all the time when it comes to girls, I just—look. I’m stupid, okay? I’m gonna shut up now.” 

Lena smirked. “Hey, watch it. That’s my girlfriend you’re calling stupid.”

Webby’s head snapped over to her, eyes blown wide. “G-g-girlfriend?”

“I literally just agreed to go out with you,” Lena said. “That means we’re dating, right? So we’re girlfriends.”

“I—I guess?”

“So basically,” Lena said, smirking, “spidershadow is canon.”

“Oh my god.” Webby stared at her. “Oh my—seriously? You—oh my god, I cannot  _ believe—” _ She broke out into a giggle, her blush finally beginning to die down. “Oh, man. We should probably get back to bed.”

“Probably,” Lena relented, getting up. They began walking back to the bedrooms, the floorboards creaking beneath their feet. “What are we going to tell our siblings?”

“That,” Webby said, “is a problem for morning-Webby.” 

They were just outside Webby’s room when, suddenly, Lena felt something wet press against her cheek feathers. She turned in surprise to see Webby’s beak retreating, curving up into a mischievous smile. 

“See you tomorrow,” she whispered, before slipping into her room and pulling the door closed.

Lena let out a breathless chuckle and shook her head as she walked back to her own room and got into bed, her cheek tingling from the kiss. She pulled up the covers and quickly drifted off, and if her dreams the rest of that night were full of pink ducks and sneaky kisses, well, that wasn’t anyone’s business, now was it?

* * *

**Heroes of Aberrae Wiki — Barbarian**

_ “Ha-ha! Come on, is that all you got!?”  _ —Barbarian (after getting a triple kill) 

Class: Martial

  * Martial heroes fight with weaponry and skill, using a minimal amount of magic. Their skills tend to be more straightforward and reliable, but less versatile. These heroes tend to be easier on newer players, but also reward veterans with toolkits that nicely complement raw technical skill.



Role: Brawler

  * Brawlers know how to start fights, and know how to finish them. Brawlers usually lead charges from the front lines, able to fend off multiple Heroes at once in a direct fight.



**Abilities**

Primary Fire: Battleaxe

  * Barbarian swings out with his massive battleaxe, dealing heavy damage to any nearby enemies.



Alt Fire: Chain Hook

  * Barbarian shoots out the head of his axe on a chain. Any enemies hit by this attack will be swung over Barbarian’s head and slammed into the ground behind him, dealing modest damage and Stunning them for 1s. Stunned enemies cannot move, attack, or use abilities. 6s cooldown.



Primary Ability: Slam

  * Barbarian leaps forward and slams the ground, damaging all enemies in a large radius and Dazing them for 3s. Dazed enemies move at 25% speed and have decreased primary fire rate. 8s cooldown.



Secondary Ability: Battle Rage

  * Dealing and taking damage will build up Barbarian’s Rage Meter. Activating Battle Rage will start draining this meter, and will also give Barbarian the Raging buff, which goes away once the Rage Meter has been fully depleted. While Raging, Barbarian moves 25% faster and takes 30% less damage from all sources. The Rage Meter can still be filled up while Barbarian is Raging to extend the duration of the buff.



Secret Technique: Earthquake

  * Barbarian slams the ground with his axe, causing a shockwave that damages and Dazes all enemies in a wide cone outwards from him for 10s. The shockwave hits through walls and at all elevations. This ability charges up slowly over time.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's with a heavy heart that I inform you that this is the last fake wiki entry. There's only nine characters in Aberrae! It's kind of ironic though that like, the game hasn't shown up in like. four chapters or whatever. Don't worry, we'll get back to the actual streamer part of the streamer au pretty soon ashdkfsdfs
> 
> Not too soon, though, 'cause I'm taking another short break for Christmas. I'll be back on New Year's Day (next Friday)! The plan is for consistent updates to go on for a good while after this break, but we'll see. See you in 2021!


	10. Sponsored Content

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang has some pancakes.

From: vogaimon@wingz.tv   
To: spiderwebby@duckmail.com

WingzCon Panelist Invitation

Dear Webby,

The annual Wingz convention, WingzCon, will be held at the Duckburg Convention Center in September of this year, in just a few months. As you are one of our biggest partners on the platform, we here at Wingz would be delighted if you, along with your co-streamers, would be featured guests for a one-hour SpiderWebby community Q&A panel during the convention. The first half of the panel would have you answer predetermined questions from the panel moderator, and the second half would open questions to members of the audience holding gold badges or higher.

If you agree to host this panel, you will receive the following compensation:

  * Four free Panelist badges for you and your co-streamers
  * Two additional VIP badges for friends and family (More badges can be negotiated if required)
  * Free stay in the Duckburg Bluefeather Hotel, who is partnering with WingzCon, for you and your guests
  * 10 gift subscriptions credited to your Wingz.tv account
  * Exclusive WingzCon chat emote for your channel subscribers



Please let us know as soon as possible if you and your associates would be willing to host this panel. We do not currently have a specific day or time for your panel, as the WingzCon schedule is still in development as we gather our events and panelists. Additionally, understand that by agreeing to be a panelist, you agree to allow Wingz.tv and WingzCon to use you and your co-streamers’ usernames and likenesses in promotional materials for the event.

We look forward to working with you in the future. Please do not be afraid to reply to this email with any questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Vinny O. Gaimon   
WingzCon director of community outreach

* * *

Webby stared at her phone, blinking the sleep out of her eyes, and reread the email.

“Huh,” she muttered. 

She swung herself out of bed and went to get dressed. She quickly threw on a pink skirt and a slightly-too-big sweater (they were comfier that way), grabbed one of her ribbons to tie her hair back, and rushed out of her room. She’d woken up pretty late—she’d didn’t exactly stay up until three regularly—and the  _ last _ thing she wanted was to miss Lena leaving. Or miss Granny’s pancakes. Honestly, she wasn’t sure which would be more catastrophic.

Fortunately, she was fast enough to avoid both disasters, as when she got to the dining room, not only was Lena already seated, but Granny was just beginning to pass out the pancakes.

“Ah, Webbigail,” she said, giving her one of her classic Granny smiles. “You’re just in time. I’ll fetch another plate.”

“Thanks, Granny,” Webby said, sliding into the open chair next to Lena. Violet was sitting on Lena’s other side, and Huey and Dewey were on the opposite side of the table, with Louie’s usual seat conspicuously empty. He must have still been asleep, which wasn’t very surprising.

While she waited for her grandmother to come back with her plate, she turned to look at Lena, who was shoveling pancakes into her mouth like she hadn’t eaten in months. She swallowed them down with a gulp, and went to grab her glass of orange juice, when she caught Webby’s eye and froze.

“Um.”

Webby tried to suppress a giggle, but it slipped out with a  _ snrk. _ “Hungry?”

“…They’re very good pancakes,” Lena said.

“She’s always like this in the morning,” Violet supplied.

“Like, fair, though,” Dewey said. “Mrs. Beakley makes the  _ best _ pancakes.”

“Why thank you,” Granny said as she re-entered the room and slid Webby her plate. She immediately began piling pancakes onto it from the platter in the middle of the table, and then went for the syrup. “I’m glad you like them, Lena. Old family recipe, these.”

“Psh, yeah right,” came a grumbling voice from the doorway. “They’re pancakes. It’s not exactly a secret how to make ‘em.”

Granny’s expression flattened. “Good morning to you too, Louie. You can find a plate in the dishwasher.”

“Cool.”

Louie stalked into the kitchen, and Webby proceeded to pour a perfectly reasonable amount of syrup onto her pancakes.

“Jesus christ, Pink,” Lena said. “Are you trying to drown them?”

Webby huffed. “You know, maybe the problem isn’t that I use too  _ much _ syrup, but that the rest of you use too  _ little. _ ”

“That,” Violet said, looking at her plate from beyond Lena, “is a frightening amount of sugar.”

“Guess I’m just braver than you, then,” Webby said, picking up her utensils and cutting into the stack.

Violet shrugged. “Touche.”

“At least you don’t put  _ jam _ on yours like Huey does,” Dewey said, side-eyeing his brother.

Huey frowned at him, waggling his knife with a clear superiority. “Excuse you. Jam on pancakes actually has historical precedent long before the stereotypical maple syrup on pancakes, dating far back to early European cultures.”

“NERD ALERT,” Louie announced as he walked back into the dining room, which prompted Dewey to start making siren sound effects. 

Huey rolled his eyes. “I  _ swear _ you two are still twelve.”

Lena shot Webby a look.  _ ‘Dorks,’ _ she mouthed.

Webby found herself giggling again, but this time, she didn’t try to hide it. Lena snickered back, before silencing herself with another mouthful of pancakes. Webby couldn’t help but let her mind wander back to their chat last night—even just the thought of it got her heart thrumming. What had she been thinking, going in for that cheek kiss right before heading into her room? 

Well, she supposed she hadn’t been thinking too much at all, really. She was pretty sure Lena hadn’t minded it, which was good, but the last thing Webby wanted was to make Lena uncomfortable by moving too fast. She knew she had a tendency to… jump into things headfirst, so to speak. It was great for getting really good at video games really fast, but she knew that socially she could come off a bit strong. And that was just with new  _ friends— _ she didn’t even know  _ how _ she would act now that she had a girlfriend!

She found herself blushing as the word crossed her mind. They definitely needed to talk about it a bit more; they hadn’t set a time for their supposed date, much less made an actual plan for what to do on it, and they still needed to figure out how and when they wanted to tell their families. 

But that would have to wait until later; Webby would probably DM Lena privately after she and Violet left or something. For now, she had something else to talk about.

She took a few bites of her pancakes, and then cleared her throat. “Hey, so. I have some important news.”

Next to her, Lena almost dropped her fork, eyes blowing wide. “Wait, Webby, are you—”

“WingzCon!” Webby said quickly, smiling wide and pointedly not looking at Lena. Oh, god, she had totally thought Webby was about to tell everyone about last night, and—nope! If she thought about it she’d start blushing, and her brothers turned into sharks at the sight of pink cheeks. “I got an email about WingzCon!”

“Oh, huh,” Lena said, recovering quickly. That didn’t stop Violet from raising an eyebrow behind her, though. “That’s the big streaming convention they have every year, right?”

“Mmhmm!” Webby nodded. “I was really new to streaming when last year’s con happened, so I didn’t go, but it’s supposed to be really cool. And we got invited to do a panel!”

Dewey broke into a giant grin, hopping up in his chair to lean over the table. “Woah, really?!”

“What sort of panel?” Huey asked. “Like, on Aberrae?”

“No, just a general community panel,” Webby said. “He said it was gonna be a Q&A type deal.”

“Guess we’re big enough now that Wingz thinks people will come out just for our lovely personalities,” Louie said. 

“We do have a pretty dedicated fanbase, honestly,” Huey said. “Have you looked at our viewers to followers to subscribers ratio lately?”

“I mean, we  _ are _ pretty great, I guess,” Dewey said smugly.

“I’m happy for you guys,” Lena said. “That sounds like a pretty big deal.”

“You should join us!” Webby said suddenly, the words falling out on their own. “I-I mean, if you want.”

“Really?” Lena looked a bit confused. “Did they say I could be on the panel too?”

“Well, I mean, no,” Webby admitted. “But I’m  _ sure _ if I ask, they’ll let you. The more the merrier, right? Unless you’re not comfortable.”

“No, no! I’m honored, really. I’d love to join you guys. I just—people would be there to see  _ you, _ right? Not me. I wouldn’t want to impose or anything.”

“You’re a part of our channel now, too,” Huey assured, smiling. “It’s a community panel, and you’re a big part of that community. You wouldn’t be imposing at all.”

“Yeah! Honestly, I think you’ve shown up on the channel more than some of  _ us  _ have in the past week,” Dewey said. “It’d feel weird without you!”

“Besides, people  _ love _ you,” Louie said. “Did you watch the vods back? They heard you talking through comms on one game and  _ begged _ Webby to add you to the party.”

Lena smiled. “Thanks, guys. In that case, I’d love to join.”

“Great!” Webby said. “I’ll ask about you when I reply to the dude, then. I’m sure he’ll say yes! Especially if I throw in that we won’t need reserved hotel rooms since we live locally.”

“I might tag along as well,” Violet said. “Not to be a panelist, of course, but just to see the convention.”

“Really?” Lena asked, turning to her sister. “You’re, like,  _ super _ not into this stuff.”

“I enjoy broadening my horizons,” Violet said matter-of-factly. “And supporting my sister.”

“Awww,” Webby cooed.

Lena rolled her eyes. “Don’t buy it, Webs. She always has ulterior motives.”

Violet scoffed. “You have no faith.”

“Ooh, this is so exciting!” Dewey said, eyes sparkling. “I’ve never been to a real convention before!”

“We’re, uh, forgetting one small thing, though,” Huey said. “We still haven’t done face reveals.”

“…Right,” Louie said, blowing out a breath. “We should probably get that out of the way first.”

“That could also be when we announce the panel?” Webby suggested. “A face reveal stream’s gonna draw a big crowd, so it’d be a good time to promote that we’re going to WingzCon in the first place.”

“So we’ll need to wait for everything to be confirmed first,” Huey said.

Dewey frowned. “But that shouldn’t take too long, right?”

“Doubt it,” Louie said. “People are going to wonder if we’re gonna start using facecams, though.”

“Are we?” Dewey asked.

“I dunno. That’s why I brought it up.”

“I think a facecam could be fun,” Webby said.

“It’d be hard to fit four on the screen at the same time,” Huey said. “If we still want to stick to one main channel, we might only be able to have Webby’s facecam.”

“Or we could take turns,” Webby suggested.

“How would that even work, though?” Louie asked.

“Ooh! There’s this one streamer, um—” Dewey groaned. “Ugh, I can’t remember his name! But he had this thing that reacted to audio in real time? Like how the Disbird overlay works. Could we do that? So that the facecam shows whichever one of us is talking?”

Huey hummed. “Maybe… I can look into it. We don’t have to decide right now. We need to actually buy cameras and work on a setup first anyway. Figure out lighting and background and all of that.”

“Ooh! I can help with that!” Dewey said. “I have experience with that stuff.”

Louie snorted. “What, from Dewey Dew-night?”

“Hey, for an eleven year old, that camera work was high quality,” Dewey said, crossing his arms. “Young me was a legend. YouTube just wasn’t ready.”

“I had no idea that streaming took this much consideration,” Violet commented. “There’s a lot that goes into it. It’s kind of fascinating.”

Lena laughed and turned to her. “What, you think I just plopped myself down in front of the computer and went for it?”

“More or less,” Violet admitted. “This is what I meant about attending the convention, though. I know very little about all of this, and you  _ know _ that nothing gets me more excited than knowing very little about something.”

Lena laughed. “True.”

Webby smiled, standing up and gathering her plate and silverware. “Well, enough business. Do you think you guys have time for one final round of Uno or something before you go?”

_ “Hell _ yeah I do,” Lena said, standing up with newfound determination. “And I’m  _ not _ letting you win again this time!”

Webby smiled. “Of course not.”

“I can’t  _ believe _ I let her win again,” Lena lamented as she got in the car, doing up her seatbelt.

Violet gave her a sympathetic look from the passenger’s seat. “That skip turn was truly a cruel play on her part.”

“Tell me about it,” Lena muttered as she started the car.

“This was fun,” Violet said as they began rolling down the hill. “As you know, I am not much for extended social occasions, but this one was remarkably palatable.”

“Yeah,” Lena said. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she quickly glanced down before returning her eyes to the road. “They’re a good bunch.” Her phone buzzed again.

“Someone texting you?”

“I guess,” Lena said. “Probably just Papa asking if we’ll be home for lunch or not.”

“He isn’t texting me,” Violet responded. “And I’m the one who actually responds.”

“Well, I don’t know, then. Nobody else really texts me.”

“What about Webby?”

Lena was quiet for a few seconds. “We literally just left her house.”

“Yes, but she texts you, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Lena said. “But I mean, they all do. To sort out when we want to stream and stuff.”

“Maybe it’s about the panel,” Violet suggested. “Something she forgot to mention.”

“Maybe. I guess we’ll know when I get home and check my phone.”

That was meant to be the end of it, but Violet went on. “Or maybe its something she couldn’t say with all those people around. Something… personal.”

“Oh?” Lena’s hands clenched and unclenched rhythmically around the steering wheel. “Like what?”

“Well, perhaps now that she’s spent some real time face to face with you,” Violet started, “she wants to… ask you something.”

“This hypothetical is getting awfully specific,” Lena said.

“Is it? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Mmm.” Lena let out a breath. “I seriously doubt she’s asking me out over text two minutes after we leave, if that’s what you’re implying.”

Especially since she had already asked Lena out last night. There was, however, the distinct possibility that these texts were Webby asking for clarification about the date they were supposedly going on at some point. But Violet didn’t need to know that.

“I wasn’t implying anything of the sort,” Violet said. “Now that you’ve brought it up, however…”

“Oh my god,” Lena said, rolling her eyes and turning the radio up in a futile attempt to shut down the conversation before it could get any worse. This was going to be a long drive.

* * *

**Direct Messages | @SpiderWebby**

_ SpiderWebby: _ Soooooo… date?   
_ SpiderWebby: _ Oh sorry you’re probably driving right now! Sorry I’m just nervous   
_ SpiderWebby: _ I’ve never been on a date before! I want to make sure I don’t screw it up haha   
_ SpiderWebby: _ Okay I will stop digging my own grave here and patiently wait for you to respond

_ ShadowGirl: _ lmao   
_ ShadowGirl: _ dont worry ive never been on a date before either   
_ ShadowGirl: _ also i think violet is onto us

_ SpiderWebby: _ What?!?! How?!!!

_ ShadowGirl: _ shes extremely good at being a detective and extremely bad at minding her own business   
_ ShadowGirl: _ idk how much she actually knows tho shes mostly just been making very obvious yet plausibly deniable implications so it could be teasing   
_ ShadowGirl: _ well i mean its teasing either way but ykwim

_ SpiderWebby: _ ????

_ ShadowGirl: _ you know what i mean

_ SpiderWebby: _ OH   
_ SpiderWebby: _ I thought you dropped your phone or something XD

_ ShadowGirl: _ did you just ex dee at me

_ SpiderWebby: _ I did!!! What are you gonna do about it??

_ ShadowGirl: _ i cant believe my girlfriend is a rawr XD girl   
_ ShadowGirl: _ next ur gonna link me ur deviantart

_ SpiderWebby: _ Sharing my deviantart feels like a third date thing at LEAST :P

_ ShadowGirl: _ wait you actually have a deviantart

_ SpiderWebby: _ You don’t?? Kinda cringe, Lena! XD

_ ShadowGirl: _ i   
_ ShadowGirl: _ what is happening   
_ ShadowGirl:  _ u never text like this in the group dm

_ SpiderWebby: _ My brothers tease me :(

_ ShadowGirl: _ bitches better square up then ill fight them

_ SpiderWebby: _ You were just teasing me!!! It’s right there in the chat log!!!

_ ShadowGirl: _ yeah but im allowed :P   
_ ShadowGirl: _ see i even did one of ur dumb little emoticons from 2012 bc cringe is dead

_ SpiderWebby: _ It is!!   
_ SpiderWebby: _ Okay but for real you uh   
_ SpiderWebby: _ Do you still want to go on that date?

_ ShadowGirl: _ yep   
_ ShadowGirl: _ how about… tuesday or something? maybe dinner and ice cream   
_ ShadowGirl: _ thats like solid first date stuff right

_ SpiderWebby: _ I think so! And yeah Tuesday sounds great :D   
_ SpiderWebby: _ Should we pick out a restaurant?

_ ShadowGirl: _ uh   
_ ShadowGirl: _ probably

_ SpiderWebby: _ It’s okay I can find something XD   
_ SpiderWebby: _ Maybe something by the pier so we can walk along the beach while eating ice cream!   
_ SpiderWebby: _ After all if there’s any one exciting detail you should know about me it’s that I LOVE long walks on the beach

_ ShadowGirl: _ jsdhfhsdfsdhf

_ SpiderWebby: _ hee hee

_ ShadowGirl: _ okay but shitty dating profile jokes aside that actually sounds rlly nice

_ SpiderWebby: _ Great! I’ll text you details tomorrow :D _   
_ _ SpiderWebby: _ I’m excited!!!!

_ ShadowGirl: _ yeah me too   
_ ShadowGirl: _ see ya then

_ SpiderWebby: _ See you then! :pink_heart:

_ ShadowGirl: _ :flushed: :pink_heart:

_ SpiderWebby: _ omgajdhhsdfgjsdgfjsdf   
_ SpiderWebby: _ :flushed:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering why the wingzcon email was sent out on a Sunday morning, well, it's simple, really -- poor Vinny O. Gaimon has had a very stressful week, and his boss is really on his case about getting these panelist invitations out, but he just had so much on his plate that he wasn't able to send Webby's email by the time he clocked out on Friday. And then on the drive home, he got in a small fender bender that caused him to just forget all about it, until he was in the shower Sunday morning with the distinct feeling he was forgetting something, so, scrambling to wrap a towel around himself, he rushed to his laptop and started drafting the email, sending it mere seconds before Webby wakes up at the start of this chapter. All of this is plot critical so I hope you're taking notes. Also happy new year.


	11. Gaymer Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Webby and Lena go on a date 😳

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to get attached to some of the fake recurring viewers I randomly made up for Lena's fake chat. Think I might have a problem. Anyway this is a double-length chapter so enjoy!

From: spiderwebby@duckmail.com   
To: vogaimon@wingz.tv

Re: WingzCon Panelist Invitation

Hello Mr. Gaimon,

My brothers and I would be absolutely honored to hold a panel at WingzCon! I do have a few questions I’d like to ask, however.

Firstly, and most importantly, I think it would be great if we could invite ShadowGirl, the most recent addition to our channel, onto the panel as well. She’s an up-and-coming streamer that has been streaming with us regularly for the past week, and I think her presence would really grab the attention of the community; our stream numbers are consistently higher when we stream together, and I believe that statistic would translate into panel attendance as well.

Secondly, is it alright for us to announce that we’ll be holding the panel to our fans? I’m assuming that you’re entirely okay with us promoting the event, but I don’t want to accidentally leak any information in case you were planning on doing anything along the lines of a formal announcement.

Finally, and this isn’t actually a question, but we won’t be needing any hotel reservations; we all live locally (ShadowGirl included) so we’ll be able to drive to and from the convention center just fine.

Let me know if you need anything else! I can’t wait for the panel.

Thank you,   
Webby

* * *

“Two at drawbridge,” Lena called, eyes darting frantically around the screen as she did her best to fend off the enemy assault. They were playing on Redwood Castle, and the enemy had managed to push up all the way to the final point, which was inside the castle’s courtyard. They were low on time, though; it all came down to this final team fight. 

She managed to win her duel with the enemy Warlock, but grimaced as an arrow soared through the air and caught her character right in the neck, downing her before she could shadowstep away—not a great start. “Shit, and Archer’s up in battlements. They’re pushing hard.”

**_Grettlehook:_ ** _ aw lucky shot _ _  
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ timer’s low you should just play time _ _  
_ **_LNTbug:_ ** _ omg this is so close _

“I’ve got seven seconds on respawn,” Webby said. “Can you hold them off until then?”

“Maybe?” Dewey asked nervously. “Ugh, I should’ve saved my ST! It’s great at stalling…”

“Oh, wow, and thanks for the five months, Melody,” Webby added absently.

**_AppleJuiced:_ ** _ using eruption too early… CLASSIC blue moment :redfacepalm: _ _  
_ **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _ greens got a flank coming in maybe he can do smth _

Lena watched from the spectator cam as Huey threw out his Magic Mirror ability, blocking the enemy’s sight, but they paid it no respect, rushing straight through. With a few swift blows, their Barbarian cut Huey down, and their Priest activated his Secret Technique, Divine Sentinel, from the back of the capture point, summoning a giant glowing crystal that proceeded to shoot out a slurry of missiles at Dewey.

“Got ‘er!” Louie called, and the killfeed showed him getting a backstab off on the enemy Archer. He dropped down from the battlements and managed to get a second backstab off on the Priest before he was picked off by the Divine Sentinel’s holy missiles. 

**_Hellranger:_ ** _ SHOCKING NEWS, green actually fucking does something _ _  
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _ still think priest ST needs a nerf, those auto-target missiles are so strong _ _  
_ **_Astropolar:_ ** _ okay maybe the thief buffs worked after all _

Dewey managed to finish off the meager remainder of the Priest’s health pool with a well-placed fireball, leaving just himself and the enemy Barbarian alive to fight over the point. But as hard as Dewey tried, he was at a pretty significant health disadvantage, and went down in only a few seconds, allowing the Barbarian to start capturing the point.

“Ugh, come on!” Dewey groused. “I almost had him! He’s gotta be at, like,  _ two _ HP.”

**_Morningdew:_ ** _ clutch or kick _ _  
_ **_AppleJuiced:_ ** _ another CLASSIC blue moment _ _  
_ **_Lollycake:_ ** _ noooooo!!! :blueshocked: _

Webby, who had just respawned, was the only member of their team who was alive, and she wasn’t going to make it to the point on time. She was only just outside the door to the spawn, and the point was housed in a part of the castle that was an entire courtyard away.

“There’s  _ ten seconds _ left,” Huey stressed. “If we only could’ve killed him—”

“Oh, screw it,” Webby said, switching to her Acid Arrow ability and raising her crosshair to the sky. “Here goes nothing.”

“No fucking  _ way,” _ Louie said.

Lena laughed. “Oh my god.”

Webby let the arrow fly.

**_NothingNews:_ ** _ omg :webbylaugh: _ _  
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ no way this works _ _  
_ **_Eyelyener:_ ** _ she knows the lineups :greensmug: _

Lena watched with bated breath as the arrow soared above the walls of the castle that contained the point, and then fell back down again, disappearing from view. And then, gloriously, the confirmed kill noise rang out as the killfeed updated, and the capture bar on the point stopped only a few pixels away from completion.

Lena could practically hear Dewey bouncing up and down in his chair. “YOOOOOOOOOO!”

“NO WAYYYYYYY!” Lena screeched, a smile breaking out across her face. “No  _ way!” _

**_Hellranger:_ ** _ :dogchamp: :dogchamp: :dogchamp: _ _  
_ **_Skywriteer:_ ** _ CLIP IT CLIP it CLIP IT _ _  
_ **_CactusMan:_ ** _ :blueshocked: WHAT _ _  
_ **_Eyelyener:_ ** _ SHE KNOWS THE LINEUPSSSS _

“I—” Huey broke into hysterical laughter. “I cannot  _ believe—” _

“That is the  _ stupidest _ way I have ever won a game,” Louie said, dumbfounded, as the match timer hit zero and the announcer confirmed their victory, Defenders Win popping up on the screen. “I mean, I’ll take it, but, like, what the hell.”

**_YoYaNo:_ ** _ WE TAKE THOSE :bluepumped: :bluepumped: _ _  
_ **_DeadlyCat:_ ** _ :dogchamp: :dogchamp: LETS GOOOOO :dogchamp: _ _  
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ how the HELL???? _ _  
_ **_$5 tip from Lollycake:_ ** _ :dogchamp: :dogchamp: _

Webby was just laughing.

“Th-thanks for the tip, Lolly,” Lena said, letting out a heavy breath. Chat was flying by far faster than she could keep up with, filled with emotes and capslock, and she still couldn’t keep the stupid grin off of her face. “Did you line that up, Pink? Like, did you go into practice mode and figure out where to aim to hit the point from spawn?”

“No!” Webby cried through her cackling. “No, I  _ swear _ I didn’t! I just picked a spot in the sky and went for it!”

“Wow,” Huey said as the game faded back to the main menu. “We  _ totally _ did not deserve that.”

**_Heliocast:_ ** _ wym that was calculated _ _  
_ **_Cedricplays:_ ** _ ahfsdkjsdh you really didnt _

“Oh, jeez,” Webby said, finally calming down. “Oh, that was good. Alright, I’m gonna have to end the stream here, but it’s been fun.”

“Really?” Dewey asked. “Aww.”

“Yeah, I gotta go too,” Lena said. “Thanks for stopping by, everyone! I’ll see you guys soon.”

**_LNTbug:_ ** _ bye! _ _  
_ **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _ see ya!!!!! _ _  
_ **_AliceAttis:_ ** _ they both have to go at the same time… SPIDERSHADOW REAL _ _  
_ **_Aoma655:_ ** _ bye shadow, thank you! _

Webby and the others echoed her goodbyes, and then Lena shut down the stream. She gave Webby a second to do the same, and then let out a sigh. “Whoo. Good games as always, guys.”

“Yeah, for sure,” Huey agreed.

“Why do you have to leave, Webby?” Dewey asked, sounding a bit put out. “I didn’t know you were doing anything today.”

“Oh, well, um…” Webby coughed. “Just gotta, uh, pick something up for Granny, you know. I’ll probably catch dinner on the way too or something?”

Lena brought a hand up to her face. Oh dear, she was really bad at lying.

“Shit, you want company?” Louie asked. “I’m supposed to help Uncle Donald out on the boat tonight and I could really use an excuse to get out of it.”

“Louie, be responsible,” Huey chastised.

Louie huffed.

“Yeah, sorry, I shouldn’t,” Webby said quickly. “Well, uh—I better get ready. Bye!”

“Wait, what—” Dewey was cut off by a little  _ bloop _ noise as Webby left the call. Lena could hear the frown in his voice when he went on. “What’s up with her?”

Louie sighed. “Who knows.”

“I should get going too. Dinner with my family,” Lena said smoothly. “See you guys tomorrow, probably?”

“Probably,” Louie said. “We don’t have a lot going on.”

“Sweet. Later.”

Lena exited the call, and then took off her headphones, shaking out her bangs. Jeez, if they kept being this obvious, the dorks would find out they were dating whether they told them or not. But she could worry about that later.

The nice thing about streaming right before her date was that her make up was already done, so all she had to do was grab her wallet and keys and head out. She made it all the way to the front door, grabbed the handle, and then stopped herself, walking back towards the dining room where Ty was working on his laptop.

“Hey, uh, I’m going out to meet a friend for dinner,” Lena said.

Ty looked up, curious. “A friend?”

“Yeah. Hope that’s okay.”

“Of course, of course!” Ty smiled. “Is this the same friend who invited you over for the weekend?”

“Uh, yeah,” Lena admitted. “Webby.”

Something twinkled in Ty’s eye, and a chill went down Lena’s spine. “Ahh, the same Webby you met at the restaurant?”

“…Yes,” Lena said, seeing where this was going. “Same one.”

“And you’re meeting her for dinner?” 

Lena gave him a flat look. “Yes. I already said that. Look, is there something you want to say, or are we done here?”

“Oh, no, nothing at all,” Ty said innocently. “You two have fun, okay? And don’t stay out  _ too _ late!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lena said, rolling her eyes.

She walked back to the front door, and made the mistake of looking into the living room, where Violet,  _ definitely _ within ear shot, was looking at her smugly over her book.

Lena glared, pointing a finger at her sister. “Not a  _ word,” _ she said, before slipping out the door.

* * *

When Lena arrived at Bluefin Diner, Webby was already there, sitting in a booth next to the window. She caught Lena’s eye and waved her over enthusiastically; she had her hair down today, Lena noticed, her bangs tucked safely to the side under her signature pink bow. Lena really had no idea how formal you were supposed to dress for a first date, but she was glad that Webby was keeping it casual with a simple flowy blue blouse and a purple skirt. Lena, of course, was in one of her many sweaters, layered over a pink dress shirt that matched her hair. And, now that she thought of it, Webby’s bow. 

Oh, no, were they being a cutesy matching couple by accident? Hmm. Well, Lena supposed she could live with that. 

She made her way over to Webby’s table and contemplated sliding in next to her before quickly thinking better of it, instead taking the seat across from her. They didn’t have time to get much more than a ‘hi’ in before the waiter noticed Lena had arrived, and came to give them their menus and collect their drink orders.

Soon enough, though, they were left to their own devices, and Lena was suddenly struck with the daunting realization that she had no idea what you were supposed to talk about when you were on a date with someone. 

“So…” she began uncertainly. “How’ve you been?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Lena almost crumpled under the pressure of how utterly stupid the question was. They’d literally been streaming together, like, thirty minutes ago. They’d had a sleepover together like the other day. They’d talked to each other practically every day for over a week now. ‘How’ve you been?’ Seriously? She was an idiot.

“Good,” Webby said. “What about you?”

“Yep, pretty good,” Lena said quickly. Well that had actually gone pretty smoothly, all things considered. Still, it had been a close one for sure.

“What are you thinking of getting?” Webby asked.

“Oh, um.” Lena frantically began scanning the menu. 

Shit. She had no clue what she was getting. She should’ve prepared for this. She was in over her head.

“I don’t know, like… maybe a salad or something, I don’t really know yet.”

“Oh! Yeah, yeah,” Webby said. “Totally fair. Haha, I should probably look too.”

Oh, lord, this was a disaster. Lena had totally botched that, and now Webby was pretending she didn’t know what to get either out of pity, and this was a total mess. God. She was so bad at dating. Why had she ever agreed to this?

Suddenly, Webby groaned, burying her face into her menu. “Ugh, I’m so bad at this! Lena, I’m so sorry, I’m being totally awkward right now. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do on a date and I’m making a total mess of things!”

Lena blinked. “Wh-what?”

Webby lowered her menu and gave Lena a sullen look. “I’m completely screwing this up, aren’t I?”

Lena stared at her in stunned silence for a few seconds, and then started laughing. Webby looked confused, and a little nervous, but Lena put out a steadying hand. “Wait, wait, sorry, it’s just—I was thinking the  _ exact _ same thing about myself before you spoke up. I thought I was being a fucking  _ disaster.” _

Webby’s eyes widened, and her mouth twitched for a second before she fell into giggles right alongside Lena. “Wow,” she managed. “I guess we’re both bad at this, huh?”

“Yeah,” Lena agreed. “But, hey—how about this. Instead of worrying about what we should be doing on a date, let’s just… hang out. Talk about nerd shit and make fun of our siblings like usual.”

Webby smiled. “I think I can work with that.”

* * *

“Can I have two scoops of chocolate in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone, please?” Webby asked.

Dinner had gone _great,_ in Webby’s opinion, and, judging by the fact that she and Lena had held hands on the walk to the ice cream parlor, Lena thought so, too. That had just been the warm up, though. She may be new to this, but even _Webby_ knew that the _real_ part of the date was the ice cream. And she also knew that the only _real_ ice cream had as much chocolate as possible.

The woman behind the counter nodded. “Sure thing. And for you?”

Lena’s eyes glanced over the wide array of flavors. “Uhh, I’ll just have two scoops of vanilla. Waffle cone.”

“Is that all?”

Webby and Lena nodded in unison, and the cashier poked a few buttons. “Your total is $7.56.”

Webby pulled out her card to pay, and before too long they were holding their respective cones. As the cashier moved over to help the family that’d been in line behind them, the two of them maneuvered through the few scattered tables in the ice cream shop and excited, the bell on the door chiming happily as they went.

“You know,” Lena said, “it’s just ice cream. I wouldn’t exactly break the bank paying for myself.”

“I told Scrooge that I was going out with a friend, and he gave me this credit card and told me to have fun,” Webby said, raising the McDuck Enterprises brand card. “I’m going to be honest with you—I don’t think it even  _ has _ a max.”

“…Point taken,” Lena mumbled. “So. Long romantic walk on the beach time?”

Webby giggled, and reached out to take Lena’s hand. “Long romantic walk on the beach time.”

Of course, they had to actually  _ get _ to the beach first. It wasn’t too far away from the shopping center where the restaurant and ice cream place was, but they still had a mile or so of concrete to put behind them before it turned to sand. Their conversation flowed naturally, though, and it barely seemed like any time at all before Webby caught the first glance of the ocean as the city gradually fell away around them.

“I know it’s cliche,” Webby said, “but the water really  _ is _ pretty.”

“It is. Do you come out here often?” Lena asked.

Webby hummed. “Not so much any more, but me and the boys used to go to the beach to play pretty regularly. They even had a little boat we would take out sometimes. We’d pretend we were going on adventures and searching for treasure and stuff. Mostly Louie just got us lost, though.”

Lena snorted. “That tracks.”

Webby snickered. “Yeah. We still call him Captain Lost sometimes. You’d think for someone who grew up on a boat, he’d have a better head for navigation.” She smiled at the memories, then turned to Lena. “Have you been out here before?”

“Oh, well—”

Lena was cut off by a small, high-pitched scream, and Webby pulled her hand out of Lena’s reflexively, raising it up and instinctively lowering her stance. However, when she looked up, the source of the squeal turned out to be a teenage girl with a short pixie cut standing on the sidewalk in front of them, wearing a flashy multicolored top and expensive-looking sneakers with a pink sweatshirt tied around her waist. She was staring at them with wide eyes and a wider smile, hands clasped against her cheeks. Well, actually, Webby noticed, she was mostly staring at Lena.

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed. “You’re ShadowGirl, right? The streamer?”

Webby’s eyes widened.  _ Oh. _

Lena looked over to her, and she gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile, but it probably just came out as awkward and panicked, and Lena nervously turned back to the girl. “Uhhh… You know me?”

“It  _ is _ you!” the girl exclaimed. “Oh my god, this is crazy! I’m a huge fan of yours—or, well, I started as a fan of SpiderWebby, but then you joined them and you’re so cool!”

“Uh.” Lena swallowed. “Uh huh.”

“How is it being friends with SpiderWebby?” the fan asked excitedly. “Isn’t she the best?”

Lena shot another look at Webby; a questioning glance this time. Webby shook her head as subtly as she could and hoped her eyes conveyed an appropriate amount of fear. She thanked the gods that they hadn’t gotten around to doing the face reveal stream yet.

“Yeah, she’s, er, pretty great,” Lena said. She looked around awkwardly, eyeing the beach that started only a dozen or so yards out; so close, yet so far. “So, uh…”

“Oh! I’m sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself,” the girl said, completely misinterpreting Lena’s demeanor. She stuck out a hand. “I’m Melody Songbird!”

Lena switched her ice cream cone to her left hand and took Melody’s with her right, giving it a quick shake. “Nice to meet you Melody. I’m—well, you already know who I am. And this—” She turned to Webby and stopped. “This is my friend Weh, uh, Wendy. She’s shy.”

Webby gave a small smile and wave. She didn’t want to talk if she could help it; she actually knew a Melody that frequented her chat, and if this was the same person, she watched her… well, an awful lot. Webby was often told that she had a pretty distinctive voice, and while she hadn’t gotten recognized for it so far, she didn’t want to take that chance with someone who she  _ knew _ had listened to her talk for countless hours.

“Hi! Nice to meet you,” Melody chirped, all smiles. “Must be cool to be friends with a streamer.”

“Mmhmm,” Webby hummed, before becoming very invested in her ice cream.

“Hey, so, uh…” Lena rubbed awkwardly at her neck. “It’s cool to meet a, uh, a fan and all, but we were kind of in the middle of something and I’m sure you have places to be as well, so…”

This time, Melody seemed to get the hint well enough. “Oh! Oh, of course. Can I just get a picture before you go? Sonata isn’t going to believe this!”

“Sonata?” Lena asked.

“Oh, my little sister,” Melody said. She was already pulling out her phone, and let out a little giggle. “She likes watching the streams over my shoulder. It’s annoying.”

Lena let out a smile at that, and it looked at least a little more genuine to Webby. “That’s really sweet. Well, sure. A picture should be fine.”

“Great!” Melody burst into a grin and stepped close to Lena, holding her phone out and wrapping an arm around Lena in what was frankly an invasion of personal space.

“Oh, you’re—okay,” Lena said, and Webby frowned as she returned the gesture with an arm around Melody in return. The phone clicked as the camera went off, and Melody stepped away from Lena, causing Webby to let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. 

“Ahhh, it’s perfect!” Melody chimed, smiling down at her phone before hugging it to her chest. “Thank you so much! It was so cool meeting you!”

Lena smiled warmly. “Yeah, no problem. Bye!”

“Good-bye!”

They waved her off, and then started back towards the beach. Webby’s ice cream was cool against her tongue, soft and chocolatey, but she couldn’t help but feel an unsettling pit in her gut as they finally reached the ocean.

“Well,” Lena said, breaking the silence. “Can’t say I saw that one coming. Guess I was bound to get recognized  _ eventually _ though.”

“I’m sorry if she made you uncomfortable,” Webby said. “Maybe I should’ve stepped in.”

“Oh, no, I was fine,” Lena assured. “I mean it was a bit awkward at first, but she seemed really sweet, honestly.”

Webby squirmed a bit, trying to find her point. “I just mean… She kind of got all over you when she took the photo, you know?”

“Well, I wasn’t super expecting it, and it probably would’ve been nice of her to ask first, but I would hardly call that being ‘all over me,’ ” Lena said. “Seriously, Webby, don’t worry about it. I would’ve said something if she really made me uncomfortable. And I guess I can see how it might get obnoxious if that sort of thing happened every day, but it feels kind of nice to get noticed by… a  _ fan. _ God, I have  _ fans _ now. How wild is that?”

Webby let out a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah.”

They were silent for a few seconds, looking out over the water, until Lena gasped. “Wait, Pink, are you  _ jealous?!” _

Immediately, Webby felt her entire face flush bright red. “Wh-What? No! No, I’m—I’m not jealous, that’s stupid! Why would I be jealous?! I’m just—I’m just upset on your behalf because Melody was violating your personal space!”

Lena’s smirk would give Louie a run for his money. “Oh, wow,” she laughed, “you’re  _ totally _ jealous. Aww, well, don’t worry, Melody’s isn’t  _ half  _ as cute as you are.”

That certainly didn’t help with Webby’s blush. “N-no, it’s—you’re—I’m just—that’s not—but you—and—”

Lena cut her floundering off with a laugh, weaving her fingers into Webby’s. “Well, how about this. If anyone  _ does _ actually make me uncomfortable, I’ll tell you so you can beat them up.”

“Thank you,” Webby mumbled. She was tempted to smash her entire cone into her face to cool it down, but managed to restrain herself to a normal lick. “Also you’re mean.”

Lena snickered. “Maybe  _ you’re _ just too easy to tease.”

“No, I’m pretty sure all of you are just mean,” Webby decided. She squeezed Lena’s hand, though, just to make sure she knew she didn’t mean it.

Lena squeezed back, and Webby smiled.

* * *

They walked down the beach in a comfortable silence, Webby licking away at the chilly chocolatey goodness of her ice cream cone. At least, Webby was pretty sure it was a comfortable silence. Did Lena feel the same way? Oh, god, what if she didn’t? What if this was an awkward silence and Webby was just blissfully oblivious? That would be terrible!

“Oh, shit,” Lena said suddenly.

Webby looked up, her concerns of awkwardness immediately evaporating at Lena’s casual yet curious tone. A ways away from them on the beach, previously hidden behind a small hill of sand that they were just cresting, was an old, decrepit wooden structure.

“What is that?” Webby asked.

“An old amphitheater,” Lena said. “I forgot this old thing was out here. Honestly, I’m surprised that it’s  _ still _ here, but I guess if they hadn’t bulldozed it before it was unlikely they were ever going to.”

“You’ve been here before?”

Lena just smirked. “C’mon. I’ll show you.”

Well, she was certainly tickling Webby’s sense of adventure, that was for sure. Lena walked briskly across the beach, and Webby had to half-jog to keep up with her long strides. Oh, the sacrifices she made dating someone taller than her.

(That was a joke. Lena being taller than her was  _ definitely _ a plus.)

She caught up to Lena just as she was climbing the steps onto the main stage area. Webby’s beak dropped open slightly as she looked around, taking it all in; it was beautiful, in that way that ordinary things never could be until they were falling apart. Each broken column and rotten floorboard and ripped-up curtain pulled at her imagination, daring her to rebuild it all inside her mind. And to Webby, that was beautiful.

“Wow, this place is even shittier than I remember,” Lena said. “Forget bulldozers, I’m surprised the  _ wind _ hasn’t torn it down.”

“It’s incredible,” Webby said. “I had no idea that something like this was out here. The boys and I always played over on the other side of the beach when we came out here.”

Lena shrugged. “Probably for the best. This place is, like,  _ definitely _ a hazard area.”

“Well, yeah, I doubt OSHA would be a huge fan of it,” Webby admitted. “I’m glad you showed me, though. I love stuff like this. It’s like… a little window into the past.”

Lena barked out a harsh laugh. “You’re telling  _ me.” _ And then she kicked at the ground, and a trapdoor sprang up from the floor, hurtling a cloud of dust into the evening air with a shrill screech of its hinges. “Huh. Surprised that thing still works. Could use an oiling, though.”

Webby’s eyes lit up. “Oooh, a stage trapdoor! I’ve always wanted to use one…”

“Well, now’s your chance,” Lena said with a smirk, slowly starting down the ladder.

“How’d you know about all this?” Webby asked as she followed Lena below the stage. The air grew musty and stagnant as she descended, flowing into her lungs like water that’d been left inside a hot car. She dropped down the last few rungs and turned, her eyes widening as they adjusted to the dim light. “Oh my god. This is…”

“Sad?” Lena prompted. “Yeah.”

The room below the stage was cramped; it was only meant to hold props and the occasional actor waiting for their cue. But this room looked…  _ lived in. _ There was a single couch thrown up against the wall that looked like it’d been dragged out of a dumpster, with stuffing pouring out of countless rips and tears, and an old, ratty, too-small blanket was draped across it, leading up to a dirty couch cushion tucked against the arm rest. The rest of the room was spare, with old, broken props piled up in one corner, and a mess of old chip bags and fast food wrappers in another. The only real decoration, if you could even call it that, was on the wall above the couch, where someone had spray-painted, in big, angry red letters, ‘FUCK THEM ALL!’

Webby’s stomach sunk as it all came together. “You  _ lived _ here.”

“Yeah.”

Webby rested her free hand on a cabinet by the way that was missing half its drawers. It was caked in dust when she lifted it back up. “How long?” she asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.

“Only a month or so. Two max.” Lena shrugged. “It’s hard to remember. It was a long time ago.”

“That’s  _ horrible.” _

“It, uh, I mean, it wasn’t great,” Lena said, a bit of the carefully-curated laid-back casualness slipping from her tone. She flopped herself onto the couch, the springs groaning under her weight. Webby was a little surprised they didn’t give in entirely. “I was planning on replacing this thing with a proper mattress soon—had an eye on one in the junkyard and everything. Just had to wait until the Beagles were out before I could take it. But I left before I had the chance.”

“How did… Why?” Webby found herself at a loss for words, eyes tracing over the room once again. She hadn’t missed much the first time, though; there wasn’t much to see. “I thought… I thought you said you were in foster care before the Sabrewings adopted you.”

“I was. I ran away.”

Webby’s expression, somehow, grew more concerned. “And—and it took them  _ two months _ to find you?”

“Oh, no, my foster family never found me,” Lena said waving a hand. “Violet found me. I was messing around, writing stupid little messages in bottles and tossing them out to sea. I liked thinking about what the fisherman might think if they found ‘em.” She laughed. “Turns out the current doesn’t actually take them that far out. So, the joke was kind of on me when this little kid approaches me and starts lecturing me about littering. Didn’t even care that I’d found the bottles on the beach in the first place, little brat.”

Webby couldn’t help but giggle at that, but the smile didn’t last for very long. “Wow. That’s… wow. I thought my childhood was bad, but at least Granny loved me. Even if she had a funny way of showing it sometimes.”

“Hey, I didn’t bring you here so we could compare trauma. Pretty sure that’s not healthy.”

“No, you’re right. I was just—I don’t know.” Webby frowned. “Why  _ did _ you bring me here?”

Lena licked at her ice cream cone, looking around her old hideout. “Well, shit, I don’t know. I haven’t been here since the Sabrewings found me, and… I don’t know. Just got nostalgic I guess.” She sighed, face souring. “Let’s go back up.”

They made their way back up the ladder, and sat at the edge of the amphitheater, legs dangling over the waves. By now, they were both down to the last of their ice cream, and Lena finished hers off with a crunch as she devoured the rest of the cone.

“Ugh, why  _ did _ I bring you here?” she asked, wiping her hands off on a napkin they’d gotten from the ice cream parlor. She seemed almost angry. “This place isn’t cool or whatever, and it’s  _ certainly _ not romantic. It’s just fucking depressing. I’m on a date, and I bring you to a moldy shithole and dump my tragic backstory on you. What was I even thinking?”

Webby was quiet for a second. “I don’t know. I’m not you. But… maybe you were thinking that this is an important part of your past, and you wanted to share it with me. And I’m glad you did, because, well…” She took a bite of her own ice cream cone as she sorted her words out in her head. “Look. If I’ve learned anything over the past year or so, it’s that there are parts of yourself that you don’t want to broadcast on a stream for everyone to see, but that doesn’t mean those parts aren’t still…  _ you. _ And while keeping them hidden makes it easier for people to like you, it makes it a lot harder for people to  _ know _ you.

“And maybe this—maybe this is me moving too fast, or jumping in over my head like I always do, but—I want to know  _ all _ of you, Lena. The bright and the dark. So I’m glad you brought me here, because it let me see you more completely. I’m not my past—I’m not some naive little girl trapped in a mansion that’s so big and so small at the same time, obsessing over a man who barely even knows I exist. I’ve grown so much. But while my past isn’t  _ all _ of me, it’s still a  _ part _ of me—I wouldn’t be who I am without it.” She let out a small laugh. “Maybe for our second date I can show you all the vents I used to crawl around in. Let you see that part of me for yourself.”

She paused for a second to pop the remainder of her cone into her mouth, and Lena surprised her by reaching down and grabbing her hand. Webby squeezed it experimentally, and Lena squeezed back, but didn’t say anything.

Webby went on. “When I first saw this place, I thought it was beautiful. I still do. Things are a lot more beautiful when they aren’t perfect.” She leaned her head against Lena’s shoulder.

It was a few more moments before Lena finally spoke up. “Did you just compare me to a decaying amphitheater?”

“You’re ignoring the bit where I called you beautiful.”

Lena snorted. “Right. Well, it’s funny you should mention that you’re afraid you’re taking things too fast for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I really kind of want to kiss you right now.”

Webby felt herself go pink. Her tongue froze up, and all she could manage was a single, faint, “Oh.”

Fortunately, she didn’t need words for the next bit.


	12. Photo Op

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Webby and Lena come home to suspicious families, Melody's selfie takes a tour of the internet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned this on my tumblr but I've forsaken my update schedule, so I'm just gonna post chapters as they're ready. It should still be close to weekly though. Thanks for sticking with me!

[ waywardm3lody.ternblr.com ](https://waywardm3lody.tumblr.com/post/640004425091547136/omg-guys-chill-out-okay-for-one-im-not-certain)

**Just A Wayward Melody**

Melody 🎵 She/Her 🎵 Minor 🎵 I like cartoons, video games, SpiderWebby, and making music!

waywardm3lody  🔁  waywardm3lody 

> (Image loading…)
> 
> waywardm3lody:
> 
> [Photo ID: Me posing for the camera with Aberrae streamer ShadowGirl. Both smiling, ShadowGirl is holding an ice cream cone.]
> 
> You’ll never guess who I met today :0!!!! It’s ShadowGirl!!! She was nice enough to take a pic with me even though in retrospect I’m pretty sure I interrupted a date bc she was holding hands with her friend when they left whoops shsjdkskjshs
> 
> But yeah she’s so super nice and I feel so lucky that I had the chance to meet her!!

OMG guys chill out!! Okay for one I’m not certain it was even a date okay? And also like I love SpiderShadow as much as the next fan but??? I didn’t think you guys really took it this seriously?? Like omg she can date who she wants!

_#and @ the people asking for details #obviously no?? im not telling u where i live!! #also we should really respect her privacy too okay! #its not just well-meaning fans who go into the tags #what if a troll found her? #i mean seriously come on!!_

* * *

Lena was still riding the high from the date as she pulled into her driveway, parking the car neatly behind Ty’s pickup. She let out a breath and smiled to herself as she turned the car off and clambered out, the tip of her beak still tingling even now from the brush of Webby’s lips. As far as first kisses went… Well, Lena figured that one had been pretty good.

So had the ones after it, too.

She walked up the path to the porch and let herself in, hanging up the keys by the coat rack. But she barely made it a foot past the threshold before Violet appeared in the doorway to the living room, smiling smugly at her.

“So,” Violet said, “did your date go well?”

Lena rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to deny it, but then stopped herself. There really was no point, was there? She may as well just come out with it. “You know what? It did.” Lena crossed her arms confidently. “We even _kissed._ So, yeah, I’d say it went _really_ well.”

Violet’s beak fell open, but no sounds came out. This only made Lena more smug; _finally_ she could turn the tables on her. “Didn’t think I had it in me, did you? Or maybe you’re just jealous,” she teased.

“No, I—” Violet made another series of confused facial expressions. “Are you telling me this was _actually_ a date?”

Lena raised an eyebrow. “…What? Yes? I thought you knew that.”

“Lena, I was _teasing you,”_ Violet stressed. “I didn’t actually think that—that she actually—” She paused again, blinking. “She _actually_ had a crush on you? Or did you you ask _her_ out, or—I’m—I thought this was a _joke,_ Lena.”

Lena was silent for a few seconds, processing, and then she broke out into a massive grin. “Oh. My. _God._ You thought—you _thought—”_ She couldn’t keep it in anymore and doubled over laughing, gripping the door frame for support. “Oh, oh, wow, all those smug quips and—and you didn’t even think she had a _crush_ on me? I thought _I_ was oblivious!”

Violet flushed. “It’s—look, Webbigail is a very nice person, and it’s understandable that her pleasantries could be misconstrued as romantic interest, so I, well, I thought maybe _eventually_ something would happen, but in the meantime I would just perpetuate the misunderstanding for comedic effect, but I suppose it wasn’t, in fact, a misunderstanding, and…” She trailed off, and then seemed to find herself again, looking up at Lena with renewed scrutiny. “You _kissed_ already? How? When did you start dating?”

“She confessed to me during the sleepover,” Lena said, still holding back chuckles. “Or, well, I kind of called her out and she admitted it. And then we decided to start dating, and this was our first date.”

Violet stared at the floor for a long while. Eventually, she looked up and said, “Okay.”

Lena snorted. “What’s that mean?”

“It means I’m not entirely sure how to process this,” Violet said. “I fully support you and Webby, but even so, the thought of you dating someone is rather strange, since you’re my sister and all.”

Lena mentally considered what it would be like if Violet started dating someone. “Hmm. You know, fair.”

“This is of course exacerbated by the fact that a bunch of strangers on the internet constantly make jokes about the two of you dating,” Violet went on.

“Yeah, that’s a, uh.” Lena swallowed. “That’s a thing.”

“Do you plan to announce it?” Violet asked.

“As far as I know, she hasn’t even told her family yet,” Lena said. “But I guess we’ll have to _eventually._ It’s not like we can keep it secret forever. Maybe we should wait until after the panel, though; I don’t want our relationship to steal the show.”

Violet nodded. “That sounds reasonable. Well, best of luck. And congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Lena said. 

Violet walked off—she had always been rather abrupt when it came to closing out conversations—and Lena continued down the hall to the stairs, only to be cut off by a voice from the dining room.

“Ah, Lena!” Indy called, smiling widely at her from the table. “Ty tells me you were out with a… _special_ friend tonight!”

Lena pressed a hand to her temple and dragged it down her face. This could be a long night.

* * *

From: vogaimon@wingz.tv  
To: spiderwebby@duckmail.com

Re: WingzCon Panelist Invitation 

Webby,

Thank you for the prompt reply. We’re glad to have you on board for the convention!

We have decided to honor your request to invite ShadowGirl to the panel as well. The more the merrier, after all. We will send her, as well as yourself and Red, Green, and Blue, more detailed information closer to the date of the convention. You can tell your fanbase about the panel whenever you choose, but bear in mind that until we send you the previously-mentioned confirmation emails, everything is subject to change, so don’t promise any details or speak on behalf of WingzCon.

As always, feel free to contact me with any further questions. I hope you enjoy the event!

Sincerely,

Vinny O. Gaimon  
WingzCon director of community outreach

* * *

The iron gate at the front of McDuck Manor rattled as Webby scaled it, letting out a soft grunt as she vaulted herself over the top and landed deftly on the driveway on the other side. She ran over to the front doors and slipped inside as silently as she could, closing them behind her with a faint click of the latch and letting out a breath.

“Webby.”

“AH!” she screamed, whipping around to see her Granny sitting in an armchair a ways off, nursing a cup of tea. “Oh! Uh, whuh, um, hey, Granny!”

She set her tea down on a side table and folded her arms over her lap. “You didn’t tell me you were heading out. You missed dinner.”

Webby chuckled nervously. “Did I? Haha! Whoops!”

“Webby,” Beakley repeated calmly.

Webby sighed. “Ugh, look, I just—wanted to go out for dinner, you know. Nothing big!”

“Yes, a dinner with a friend, apparently. Mr. McDuck told me.”

“Uh, yeah, there—there was a friend there,” Webby confirmed.

“Indeed. I simply wonder, dear, why you would tell Scrooge, but leave me in the dark. It makes it harder to plan dinner, you know.”

For a long while, Webby silently held her grandmother’s stare, brain whirring as she tried to think of an excuse. “I forgot?”

“You forgot,” Beakley repeated.

“Yeah, uh.” Webby shrugged. “Sorry.”

“This ‘friend’ that you ‘had dinner with,’” Beakley said, air quotes and all. “She wouldn’t happen to be Miss Le—”

“Webby! You’re here!” Dewey called, exploding down the stairs and into the foyer. “There’s an _emergency!_ Come on come on!”

“What?” Webby asked, but he had already grabbed her wrist and was dragging her up the stairs. “Wh—emergency? But—uh—bye, Granny!”

Beakley let out a long, resigned sigh, and grabbed her teacup once again. “Bye, dear.”

Dewey led her up the stairs, down the hall, and into his extremely-blue room. He had some band posters up on the wall above his bed, a small electric keyboard and mic set up in one corner, and his gaming set up in another. The rest of the room was, scientifically speaking, a huge mess.

“So, what’s this emergency?” Webby asked. “Seems pretty serious.”

“It _is!”_ Dewey cried. “It’s about Lena! She just went on a _date!”_

Webby blinked. “Um. What?”

“I know, right?” Dewey exclaimed, throwing up his hands. “That’s what I said! But—I mean, look, someone who watches our streams ran into her a couple hours ago and posted a selfie with her on Ternblr, and she mentioned that she thinks Lena was on a date or something, and it’s been reposted all over our Twitter tag, and our subribbit is in a frenzy, and this is terrible!”

Webby’s brow furrowed. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, yeah, look!”

Dewey shuffled her over to his computer, and navigated over to a browser tab that was showing a thread in the SpiderWebby subribbit. She didn’t go on r/spiderwebby often—she didn’t use Ribbit much at all, really, usually too busy running the channel’s Twitter—but she knew the boys hung around it a lot. This particular thread had a hefty supply of upvotes, and was titled ‘SpiderShadow dead ;_;’ with screenshots of Melody’s Ternblr post. 

It seemed to be getting pretty heated, with people getting upset that apparently she was taken, and then other people saying that those people were creeps and that you shouldn’t ship real people, and then other people saying that _those_ people were just trying to start drama because everyone knew it was just a stupid joke and that SpiderWebby and ShadowGirl were clearly fine with it, and then other people saying that it doesn’t matter if it’s a joke, it’s starting to become an invasion of privacy, and eventually Webby just had to stop reading.

“Wow,” she said. “This is, uh. This is crazy. Should we… say something? To stop all the drama?”

“Forget the _drama!”_ Dewey said. “What about _you?!_ What are you gonna do?”

“What do you mean, what am I gonna do?” Webby asked.

“You have a crush on her, but she’s already dating someone! Don’t you see the problem here?”

“Oh,” Webby said, and then her eyes widened. “Ohhhhhh. Wait, um. That’s not…”

Dewey sighed. “I’m sorry, Webby. I just figured you’d rather know sooner than later.” He smiled awkwardly. “But, uh, hey, maybe they’ll break up?”

Webby raised an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, sorry, yeah, that was in poor taste.” He squinted at her. “But, uh… you seem to be dealing with this extraordinarily well.”

“Oh, well. Uh. So—”

She was interrupted by Louie barging in through the door, looking down at his phone and cackling. “Oh my _god_ Webby, have you seen this shit? Everyone’s freaking out because you and Lena went on a date—congrats by the way—but they don’t know it was _you_ on the date and now they think SpiderShadow’s dead when it’s actually _hella_ real and this is the funniest shit that has ever happened.” He looked up. “Oh, hey, Dewey.”

“Wait, but—” Dewey looked between the two of them in confusion. “But that would mean—so you’re saying—” He stopped, and then his eyes blew up wide. “OH MY GOD. WAIT. WAIT. WEBBY, LENA WAS ON A DATE WITH _YOU?!”_

Louie raised an eyebrow. “Uh. Duh? Obviously?”

Dewey gasped, putting his hands on his head. “Oh my god, I had no idea!”

“Seriously?” Louie mumbled.

“Congratulations, Webby! Ohh, I’m so happy for you two!”

Dewey jumped forward and hugged her, and Webby returned it. “Oh! Thanks, Dewey. Sorry for not telling you guys, it’s just—well, I wasn’t sure if I was ready.”

They let go of each other right as Huey poked his head into the room. “Webby, you’re back! How’d the date with Lena go?”

Dewey huffed and crossed his arms. “Did _everyone_ know about this but me?”

“Literally yes,” Louie said. “Even Mrs. Beakley knows, I’m pretty sure.”

“It went really really well!” Webby said to Huey. “We got dinner, which was amazing, and then we got ice cream, which was even _more_ amazing, and then—well, and then we ran into Melody and the whole thing with the selfie happened, but _then_ we took a walk on the beach and Lena showed me this old hideout of hers, and then we—” She stopped dead, blood rushing up to her cheeks. “W-well, it was really good!”

Instantly, her brothers’ faces grew bloodthirsty, and they all leaned forward.

“Oh?” Huey asked. “And then you… what, exactly?”

“And then nothing!” Webby protested. “We just talked a bit! It was really sweet.” 

“You just talked, huh?” Louie pressed.

“Yes!” Webby huffed. “Really, it was nothing.”

Dewey stroked his chin, smirking. “Was it nothing, Webby? Or was it… something?!”

Webby was beginning to sweat. “I—I—uh—” She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a little scream, flapping her arms. “Fine! We kissed, okay? And it was really really nice!”

“HA!” Louie said triumphantly, pumping a fist. “Gay!”

“Oooooooooo, Webby and Lena _kisssssssed,”_ Dewey teased. 

“I bet you _held hands_ too,” Huey said. “On the first date even! Scandalous, Webby!”

“You all suck! I hate all of you!” She heard Louie snickering, and looked up to see that he had his phone out. Her eyes narrowed. “Louie? What are you doing?”

His snickering escalated. “You’ll find out,” he said.

Webby grumbled insults at them under her breath as she whipped out her phone.

* * *

 **Group DM: SpiderShadow CONFIRMED!!!!!! :dogchamp: :dogchamp: :flushed: :dogchamp: :lesbian_pride_flag: :two_women_kissing: :flushed: :flushed: :dogchamp:** **(SpiderWebby, SeniorSeniorWoodchuck, JustDewIt, Pep4blood, ShadowGirl)**

_Pep4blood has changed the chat name._

_ShadowGirl:_ …   
_ShadowGirl:_ so pink i take it you did _not_ manage to keep it a secret

_SpiderWebby: LOUIE!!!!_

_Pep4blood:_ hee hee :)

 _SpiderWebby:_ DONT U hee hee :) ME!!!!!

 _JustDewIt:_ awww did you guys kissssss do you looooooove each other

 _ShadowGirl:_ im   
_ShadowGirl:_ webby how do you live with them

 _SpiderWebby:_ its a struggle

 _SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ Awww, did you hold haaaands? Did you take a long romantic walk on the beeeeeach?

 _ShadowGirl:_ huey why i thought u were supposed to be the mature one

 _Pep4blood:_ oh dont misunderstand, he _is_ the mature one

 _ShadowGirl:_ god   
_ShadowGirl:_ okay so im assuming that part of why you know is because of the whole. selfie situation

 _SpiderWebby:_ Oh, you’ve seen that?   
_SpiderWebby:_ I really don’t know what to make of it

 _ShadowGirl:_ imo its like   
_ShadowGirl:_ just being blown way out of proportion   
_ShadowGirl:_ like do i want people prying into my personal life. no. but also i havent actually seen anybody doing that really so idk what the fuss is about

 _SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ Well, there _are_ some people who have been going a bit too far, but they’re in the minority.

 _JustDewIt:_ yeee like the people who are trying to figure out what town you live in from the pic and stuff

 _ShadowGirl:_ hmm. k dont like that

 _Pep4blood:_ ur right tho its mostly, like, internet drama   
_Pep4blood:_ at least melody or whoever seems to be like. A normal fucking person. So thats something

 _ShadowGirl:_ yeah i went on her blog she seems chill

 _SpiderWebby:_ I'm thinking maybe we should say something? Just to try and calm things down   
_SpiderWebby:_ Or do you think that would just make it worse?

 _Pep4blood:_ who fucking knows

 _ShadowGirl:_ what if i just tweeted out something like   
_ShadowGirl:_ lmao it wasnt even a date tho

 _Pep4blood:_ agjhsgfajsgfsd

 _JustDewIt:_ hmmm that might be good actually

 _SeniorSeniorWoodchuck:_ It wouldn’t really address the core problem though, it’d just be a quick bandaid. Something like this is bound to happen again with how prevalent the whole SpiderShadow joke is getting

 _JustDewIt:_ KJDJSDGDHF but is it really joke??

 _Pep4blood:_ spidershadow… confirmed??? :flushed: :flushed:

 _SpiderWebby:_ STOP. STOP KSJDFKJSHDFHDS

 _ShadowGirl:_ fuck it ima tweet that   
_ShadowGirl:_ i get what ur saying huey but also like we could use a quick bandaid i think   
_ShadowGirl:_ esp if we want to get the heat off before the face reveal   
_ShadowGirl:_ oh and also fuck you louie

 _Pep4blood:_ (:

* * *

twitter.com/ShadowGirl/status 

**all i do is play my silly little video games** _  
__@ShadowGirl_

Lmao okay but, like, it wasnt even a date tho im single sdkjgshgfasdf

_9:17 pm | 52 likes | 13 replies_

* * *

ribbit.com/r/spiderwebby 

⬆️82 **SpiderShadow still in the game baby!!!**

_SHADOWGIRL JUST SAID IT WASN’T A DATE WE’RE BACK IN BUSINESS LET’S…_

* * *

[ waywardm3lody.ternblr.com ](https://waywardm3lody.tumblr.com/post/640435269253971969/okay-guys-shadow-just-confirmed-it-was-not-a-date)

Okay guys Shadow just confirmed it was NOT A DATE so all this pointless drama was for nothing. I hope y’all are pleased with yourselves

_#to be candid tho i am sorry for starting all of this #i really thought it was a date #whatever im glad its over #drama_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lovely humanization of Melody's selfie was drawn by the amazing Edenihira! You can check out their stuff on [tumblr](https://edenihira.tumblr.com/), [insta](https://www.instagram.com/edenihira/?hl=en), [twitter](https://twitter.com/edenihira?lang=en), and probably other places too. And you should, because their art slaps!
> 
> Also since this is possibly his last appearance, I am obligated to inform those who may not have realized that 'Vinny O. Gaimon' is a pun on video gaming. thank you and im sorry


	13. Ring Lights, Webcams, Action!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tune in now for the SpiderWebby face reveal stream!

Lena stood on the porch outside McDuck Manor, glancing over her shoulder at the elaborate front yard, trimmed hedges and gurgling marble fountain and all. Sometimes, it really hit her how insane the past couple weeks had been.

She raised her hand to knock on the front doors, but they opened before she could make a sound, revealing Mrs. Beakley behind them. “Good day, Lena,” she said evenly, gesturing for her to come inside. “Webbigail is waiting for you in her room.”

Lena looked up at her and blinked.

“Up the stairs, take a right, second door on the left,” Beakley instructed. 

“Thanks,” Lena said, stepping over the threshold.

Mrs. Beakley closed the door behind her with a soft thud before clearing her throat. “Oh, and Lena?”

She stopped. “Yeah?”

“Next time you steal my granddaughter away for a secret dinner,” Beakley said, eyes wrinkling with faint amusement, “please remind her to _tell_ me first.”

“Uhhh,” Lena said eloquently, searching for a response. But Mrs. Beakley didn’t seem to need one, as she was already walking away deeper into the mansion, leaving Lena to stare dumbly after her. After a couple seconds, she decided to just push it out of her mind, and headed up the stairs.

She could hear the sounds of activity inside Webby’s room from all the way down the hallway. Some laughter, some shouting, a bit of whining: basically, everything you would expect from four siblings being in the same room together. 

She walked up to the door and pushed it open, stepping inside. It was kind of a complete fucking mess, with overflowing treasure chests full of half-dismembered stuffed animals, tons of papers and drawings and diagrams tacked onto bulletin boards and dart boards, a surprising amount of both plastic and concerningly non-plastic weaponry, books dropped haphazardly around in a manner that would give Violet an aneurysm, and a lot of glitter where Lena wasn’t entirely sure glitter should be.

The only part of the room that didn’t seem to be a chaotic physical manifestation of Webby’s personality was over by her gaming setup, where Webby, Huey, Dewey, and Louie were moving around furniture and untangling cables and messing with cameras.

“Lena!” Webby greeted, a big smile bursting onto her face. “Hi! Thanks for coming!”

The corners of Lena’s beak twitched upward. Webby’s happiness was infectious. “Yeah, of course. I wasn't about to miss this. You guys getting things ready?”

“Trying to,” Louie muttered as he fiddled with the webcam on Webby’s monitor.

“We had to move Webby’s whole rig around in order to get a neutral background with half decent lighting,” Dewey explained, gesturing to the blank wall behind him. “And that involved some, ah… _cleaning.”_

“Just saying, if we’d used my room, this would’ve gone a lot quicker,” Huey grumbled as he pushed a small couch over against the wall.

Dewey stuck out his tongue. “Yeah, but red backgrounds are so hard to work with.”

“Also we only have one camera for now,” Louie said. “So Webby gets it.”

Huey sighed. “I know, I know.”

Lena raised an eyebrow. “What, your quattrobajillionaire uncle couldn’t spare the funds for a couple extra cameras?”

“Oh, _don’t_ get me started,” Louie complained. “We had to buy this thing with streaming money because”—and here he broke out air quotes and a botched Scottish accent—“‘learning to invest yer money back into yer company builds a strong head for business! Ya cannae learn nothin’ if I just do everything for ya!’”

“Wow,” Lena said. “Does he really sound like that?”

“No,” said Huey and Webby.

“Yes,” said Dewey and Louie.

“I’m getting mixed messages here.” Lena crossed her arms. “By the way, am I ever going to _meet_ the legendary Scrooge McMoneybags? It’s weird that I keep coming over to his house without ever seeing him.”

“Um.” Webby shrugged. “Probably eventually? If you ever stay for dinner you probably will. But he, uh, doesn’t really get out much.”

“He also doesn’t like…” Huey waved his hand as he searched for the words. “You know. Other people?”

“Sounds like quite the charmer,” Lena said dryly.

Webby sighed. “He’s not so bad once you get to know him. But, yeah, he can be a bit… _Scroogey_ sometimes.”

“Alright, I think everything’s set up,” Dewey interrupted. “How much longer until we’re supposed to go live?”

Huey checked his watch, and Lena had to bite back a snide comment about how nobody under thirty-five wore watches these days. “About eight minutes.”

“Perfect. Once it gets down to five, let’s start up the stream with the pre-stream overlay,” Webby said. 

“Are we doing a countdown?” Louie asked, walking up to the computer and poking around.

Dewey scoffed. “Of _course_ we’re doing a countdown, Louie.”

Lena noticed that Webby was fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, and reached out to pull one of her hands into hers. “Doing alright, Pink?”

Webby squeezed. “Yeah. Just nervous.”

“That’s totally understandable. Face reveals are a big deal.”

“Mmhmm. And, like. I don’t know. What if they don’t like it?”

Lena chuckled. “Your face? Webby, if they don’t like your face, then they straight up just have _no_ taste.”

Webby giggled. “Thanks, Lena. I guess… I don’t know. I feel like we’re forgetting something.”

“It’s just nerves,” Lena assured her. “Trust me, it’s gonna go great. I’ll be watching chat, remember? Even if someone _is_ nasty, which I still doubt, you’re not gonna see it.”

“Right.” Webby let out a breath, her face growing determined. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

“In six and a half minutes,” Huey added from off to the side.

“Let’s do this in six and a half minutes,” Webby amended.

* * *

**VOD: Face Reveal & Panel Announcement Stream [With Chat]**

**_Kangarooz:_ ** _ten seconds :dogchamp:_ _  
_**_WebbyFan11:_ ** _aaaa here we go!! :bluepumped: :bluepumped:_ _  
_**_Ac1dik:_ ** _:dogchamp:_

The timer ticks down to zero, and the pre-stream overlay cuts away, replaced by a shot of a nondescript room. A simple couch is in frame, and sitting on it is ShadowGirl.

“Surprise!” ShadowGirl says, waving a hand enthusiastically at the camera. “It’s me, ShadowGirl! This is what my face looks like!”

 **_Jellybomb:_ ** _wait what_ _  
_**_GlaxxyYT:_ ** _shadow?????? :blueshock:_ _  
_**_Kath838:_ ** _LMAO :webbylaugh: :webbylaugh:_ _  
_**_Hullabear:_ ** _I STG IF THIS IS A TROLL :redangry: :redangry: :webbylaugh:_

“I guess it’s time for the big secret to come out, then,” Shadow continues. “This whole time, it’s actually been just me. I’m really good at voice acting, and I’ve been playing Aberrae with myself on five different computers simultaneously.”

 **_CactalHeart:_ ** _:webbylaugh: :webbylaugh:_ _  
_**_UnicornMagic:_ ** _SDKFHGSDJGSDJFHSDF_ _  
_**_Arch3rMain:_ ** _woahhh no way :blueshock: :webbylaugh:_

 _“_ Oh my god,” a voice says from offscreen. “Literally what the fuck are you talking about.”

 ** _PeachySky:_** _GREEEEEN :greenthinking: :greenthinking:_ ** _  
_** ** _WaywardM3lody:_** _omg wait are they all in the same place?? i didnt think they knew each other irl_

“Shadow, you’re supposed to introduce us, not… whatever this is,” another voice says.

 **_TetheredUmbra:_ ** _LMAO IT WASNT SCRIPTED_ _  
_**_Jexter879:_ ** _red cannot appreciate a good jape!! :redangry:_

Shadow pauses for a second to glance at something off frame, and then turns back to the camera. “See? Bet you didn’t even see my beak move for that. That’s how good I am at this.”

“Oh, shut up,” Green says.

 **_CactalHeart:_ ** _SHADOW STOP SDKFHSDFH_ _  
_**_Eternalove:_ ** _wow shes so talented :webbylaugh:_

Suddenly, a teenaged duck with slicked-up hair and blue sports jacket jumps in front of the camera. “Face reveal!” he calls out.

 **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _OMG BLUE!! :blueshocked: U LOOK SO GOOD_ _  
_**_MissingArc:_ ** _wow his hair is rlly like that huh_ _  
_**_Hellranger:_ ** _oh my man is slick :dogchamp:_ _  
_**_GlaxxyYT:_ ** _blue u look like a high school musical character and im here for it_

Two more ducks enter the frame, one in a green hoodie and the other in a red polo shirt and hat. They both move behind Blue to the couch, which Green begins shoving ShadowGirl off of.

 **_WaywardM3lody:_ ** _wow theyre really triplets huh akgdjgsadf_ _  
_**_Arch3rMain:_ ** _OMG ITS THE HOODIE!! WE CAN FINALLY SEE IT :dogchamp: :bluepumped:_ _  
_**_Redisc:_ ** _get her ass green_ _  
_**_$10 tip from UnicornMagic:_ ** _AAAA THIS IS SO COOL!! YOURE ALL AMAZING :webbysmile:_ _  
_**_Ac1d1k:_ ** _the color coding tho lmao_

“Alright, alright, I’m going,” Shadow says, putting her hands up and walking out of frame. “You have to admit though, it was pretty funny.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Red says resolutely.

“I don’t know, it was kind of funny.” Blue shrugs as he jumps up onto one of the arms of the couch. “Yo, Webby! Get in here!”

 **_WebbyFan11:_ ** _AAA HERE WE GO :bluepumped:_ _  
_**_NeonSunrise:_ ** _webbyyyy :dogchamp:_ _  
_**_Sharkii:_ ** _I Would Like To See Her......_

“I’m coming!” a bubbly voice calls, before a slightly older duck in a pink button-up, blue cardigan, and a simple white skirt walks into the frame. She also has a pink bow clipped into her shoulder-length hair. “Hi everyone!”

 **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _CUUUUUUUTE!!! LOVE UR OUTFIT :heart: :heart: :heart:_ _  
_**_SnowGoddess:_ ** _QUEEN!! :dogchamp: :bluepumped:_ _  
_**_WaywardM3lody:_ ** _WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT FUCK FUCK WAIT IM ?????_ _  
_**_WebbyFan11:_ ** _AAAAAA :hearteyes: :hearteyes: AAAAA JDJFSDGFSDHFHHS_ _  
_**_Axilottimus:_ ** _omg she really wears a pink bow i cant :webbylaugh:_

“Soooo… This is what we look like,” Webby says, looking slightly awkward as she addresses the camera. “I know a lot of people have been waiting for this for a while, so I hope we live up to the expectations!”

 **_Dwindleflame:_ ** _GIRL YOU DO!! :red_heart: :green_heart: :blue_heart: :pink_heart:_ _  
_**_$5 tip from PeachySky:_ ** _You all look so good :webbysmile: Are you going to start using a face cam during streams now?_ _  
_**_WaywardM3lody:_ ** _yall im FREAKING out webby that was you with shadow last week right??? aaaaa i didnt even know!!!_ _  
_**_LollyCake:_ ** _AH im late!!! but OMG wow this is so cool!_

Red nods along after his sister. “Mmhmm. Also, it was hard to find a way to get all of us on frame, so we can’t actually read chat from here, but we’ve got ShadowGirl on site to help us catch donations and subscriptions, so give her a shoutout.”

“Yo,” Shadow says from offscreen.

 **_BoostedBear:_ ** _shadows a real one :fist:_ _  
_**_Redatk:_ ** _shoutout! :BBfistpump:_

“She probably won’t actually be reading, like, every message, though,” Blue says.

“Oh, hell no,” Shadow says immediately. “This shit is flying by _so_ fast.”

 **_Sloopstream:_ ** _ok valid_ _  
_**_Arch3rMain:_ ** _wait melody for real??_ _  
_**_LollyCake:_ ** _oh HELL yeah shadow’s with them?? :dogchamp:_

Shadow goes on. “Actually, we’ve already got a couple donations.”

“Well, then, like, read them, right?” Green raises an eyebrow. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“Shut it, Green, I was getting there.”

“I think you’re doing a great job,” Webby says.

 **_Kornflower:_ ** _spidershadow real :bluepumped: :BBdab:_ _  
_**_Jagaclaga:_ ** _she IS doing a good job :heart:_

“Thanks, Pink.” Shadow clears her throat. “Aight, so we’ve got ten dollars from UnicornMagic, who says, ‘This is so cool! You all are amazing.’ Except with more enthusiasm.”

“Aww, thanks, Unicorn,” Webby says.

Blue shoots the camera a finger gun and winks. “You’re amazing too.”

Green groans. “Ugh, a camera is only going to make you worse, isn’t it?”

“You should’ve known that going in,” Red says idly.

 **_Kath838:_ ** _omg blue akjdhgsdf :redfacepalm:_ _  
_**_UnicornMagic:_ ** _:webbysmile: :webbylaugh:_ _  
_**_WaywardM3lody:_ ** _archer ill text u after the stream talking in chat sucks akdgjagsd_

“And then we’ve got five dollars from PeachySky,” ShadowGirl reads, “who says you all look great and asks if you’ll be using facecams from now on.”

“Oh, thank you! And, uh, yes, I think!” Webby says.

“Maybe not immediately,” Red clarifies.

Webby turns to him and nods. “Right, yeah, it may take a little bit to set everything up, so the next couple Aberrae streams are probably just going to be regular ones. And we only have one camera right now, so only I’m going to have a facecam. We might try to figure out a way to do, like, a dynamic voice overlay, but that’s all…” She waves a hand. “Yeah.”

 **_Hellranger:_ ** _oh thats big :dogchamp:_ _  
_**_PeachySky:_ ** _sweet!!_

“Webby gets the camera first because she has the best face,” Shadow says from out of frame.

Webby goes red, making a few flustered sounds. “Shadow! Don’t encourage them!”

 **_GlaxxyYT:_ ** _:webbylaugh: :webbylaugh:_ _  
_**_Malloware:_ ** _SPIDERSHADOW REAL????_ _  
_**_Klaustrophobe:_ ** _JSDHFKHSGDSDFJG_

Blue scoffs, crossing his arms. “Yeah, everyone knows _I_ have the best face.”

“Dude, we literally all have the same face,” Green says flatly.

Blue swats at him. “Shut up.”

“Behave,” Red says, reaching out and moving Blue’s hand back to where it belongs. “Besides, we have a second big announcement to get to.”

“Yeah!” Webby exclaims. “We didn’t just decide to do a face reveal on a whim, you know! It’s all part of… our _devious master plan!”_

“Pink, you’re really bad at sounding evil,” Shadow says. 

**_Ac1d1k:_ ** _oh?? :eyes:_ _  
_**_M00nrunner:_ ** _WAIT wingzcon maybe?? its coming up right?_ _  
_**_HammedBorger:_ ** _shes finally going to run for office to give gamers rights_ _  
_**_Severa6:_ ** _webby ur TOO PURE for devious plans :webbylaugh:_

“Okay, maybe a little,” Webby admits. “But guys! Guess what’s happening next month!”

 **_NeonSunrise:_ ** _omg its totally wingzcon_ _  
_**_$5 from Axeltak:_ ** _my birthday’s next month :)_

Shadow snorts. “Okay, sorry, we just got five dollars from Axeltak who says it’s their birthday next month.”

That gets Blue and Webby to laugh, and Green cracks a smirk. “You guessed it, Axel. Next month, we’re going to your house and crashing your birthday party. Be ready.”

Red rolls his eyes, but smiles despite himself. “Thanks for the tip, Axel.”

“Happy early birthday,” Webby says, still snickering. “But, no, it’s WingzCon, the big streamer convention! We’re going to be there all three days, so be sure to come by and say hi!”

 **_Freezurbern:_ ** _:dogchamp: :dogchamp: LETS GOOO_ _  
_**_WaywardM3lody:_ ** _OMG???? YESSSSSS this time im getting a selfie with YOU webby!!!_ _  
_**_DwindleFlame:_ ** _NOOOOO aww i cant go but i hope you have fun! r u gonna vlog it or anything??_

“Yeah!” Blue continues. “It’s our first time going to a convention like this, so we’re really excited. And we’d love to meet our fans, so if you spot us, feel free to say hi!”

“Also,” Red says, “WingzCon reached out to us about holding a panel. It’s a generic Q&A panel centered around our streams and our community, and all five of us are going to be there.”

Webby’s smile widens, and she claps her hands together. “Yes! The details aren’t finalized, but it’s _so cool,_ so if you want the chance to ask us a question during the panel, be sure to keep an eye on that! I’ll be posting all the information to the SpiderWebby twitter as soon as I get it from the people over at WingzCon, and I’ll also probably throw the details about it down in the about page here on Wingz once we know everything. We’re so excited!”

 **_GlaxxyYT:_ ** _oh sweet!_ _  
_**_UnicornMagic:_ ** _OMG thats so cool :webbysmile: :bluepumped:_ _  
_**_$5 from NeonSunrise:_ ** _I can’t wait for the panel! Are you planning on meeting up with any other streamers during the con?_ _  
_**_WebbyFan11:_ ** _AAA! How to convince my parents to let me go ;_;_

“Oh, we got a five dollar donation from NeonSunrise,” Lena says. “They say they can’t wait for the panel, and ask if we’re planning to meet up with any other streamers.”

“Oh, uh.” Webby pauses. “Not really?”

“Yeah, we’re actually not that involved with the whole Wingz community at large,” Green says. “We don’t really know any other streamers. Besides Shadow I mean, but she doesn’t count. She’s one of us now.”

“Ominous,” Shadow says.

“We’re always open to meeting new people though!” Blue interjects. “Who knows, this might even lead to some fun collabs in the future!”

“Yeah, for sure,” Webby agrees. “But, uh, yeah! We’re really excited for the con, and we hope to see a few of you guys there!”

* * *

Eventually, they ran out of things to talk about, and Louie got up to turn the stream off. 

Webby let out a heavy breath, sinking back into the couch cushions. “Whew. I think that went well!”

“Yeah, I don’t know why you were worried,” Dewey said, flopping down into Louie’s vacated spot and nudging her lightly with his shoulder. “Honestly, it doesn’t even matter what you look like. They _love_ you, Webby.”

Webby smiled bashfully, brushing a lock of hair out of her face and nudging Dewey back. “Oh, well. They’re all very nice, that’s for sure.”

“And they seemed very enthusiastic about the convention!” Huey added from her other side. “It’ll be cool to actually meet some of our fans in person.”

“Yeah,” Webby agreed. “Or, well, I hope so. Right now my only experience is with Mel… oh dear.”

“It’s Mel-o- _dee,_ actually,” Louie said sardonically as he pulled a Pep out of his hoodie and cracked it open, leaning against the wall.

Webby ignored him, shooting Lena a look. “Was she…?”

“Yeah, she was there,” Lena said, anticipating the question. “She freaked out a little, but chat was moving so fast, people didn’t really notice.”

“Wait, I’m confused,” Dewey said. “Why would she freak out?”

“Melody didn’t know who I was when she ran into us on our date,” Webby explained, putting a hand up to her forehead in concern. “But I just realized that _now,_ she knows that _I_ was the one hanging out with Lena!”

“You already told everyone it wasn’t a date, though, right?” Huey reasoned. “There’s no cause to worry.”

“But that was when everyone _didn’t_ want it to be a date,” Webby said. “Because they wanted the whole SpiderShadow thing to still be a thing. But now, since it being a date would _make_ the whole SpiderShadow thing a thing, everybody _is_ going to want it to be a date, and Melody already said in her original post that we were holding hands, so, like, I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be at least _some_ speculation!”

“Hey, nothing gay about a couple good friends holding hands,” Louie said.

“But there _was_ something gay about it!” Webby exclaimed. “It was overall a very gay thing! God, I’m just thankful she didn’t catch us kissing…”

“Hey, nothing gay about a couple good friends kissing each other on the mouth,” Louie said.

Webby sighed heavily, rubbing at her temples. “Louie, you are _not_ being constructive right now.”

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just, this doesn’t seem like that big of a problem, if I’m being honest.” Louie shrugged. “The worst case scenario is that people find out you’re dating. Which, like, you are.”

“You know, he has a point,” Lena said. “We don’t have to keep it a secret or anything.”

Webby was feeling more and more antsy by the second. She stood up and started pacing. “No, no, I know, but—but I just—I don’t know. I don’t think we should go public just yet.”

“Hey, it’s only one person,” Dewey reassured. “Besides, Melody seemed to believe Lena when she said it wasn’t a date, so I doubt you have to worry about her starting any rumors.”

“Also, she ended up accidentally putting herself in the middle of all that drama when she posted the selfie,” Huey said. “If I were her, I wouldn’t even say anything at all.”

“Well, she isn’t you, then, because she already made a post about it,” Lena said, looking down at her phone.

“Oh,” Huey said lamely, as Louie snorted off to the side.

Webby’s eyes bugged out of her head, and she rushed over to Lena. “WHAT?! What does it say?” 

Lena offered the phone up, and Webby snatched it out of her hands, staring down at the screen. Melody’s Ternblr was pulled up, and Webby’s eyes snapped to the top post.

> [waywardm3lody ](https://waywardm3lody.tumblr.com/post/641225283141337088/guyssss-im-losing-my-mind-so-you-know-when-i-met):
> 
> GUYSSSS IM LOSING MY MIND SO. YOU KNOW WHEN I MET SHADOWGIRL? REMEMBER HOW I SAID SHE WAS WITH A FRIEND? I OBVIOUSLY DIDNT KNOW IT WAS HER AT THE TIME BUT IT WAS _TOTALLY_ SPIDERWEBBY SHE WAS RIGHT THERE!! AND I HAD NO IDEA!!!!! AAAAAKJDFJHSFSDHFGDSJDSFD FUCK!!!!!!! IM FREAKING OUT YALL!!!!!!!!!

Webby grimaced. “Well, she’s certainly… _enthusiastic._ At least she didn’t mention anything about us dating.”

She handed the phone back to Lena, who slid it into her pocket. “Mmhmm. I think it’ll be fine, Pink. I actually need to head back to catch dinner, but if you need anything else from me, just ask.”

Webby nodded. She couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, and _almost_ asked if Lena didn’t perhaps want to stay for dinner maybe, but she was horribly afraid of seeming clingy, so she just nodded. “Of course. Thanks for coming, Lena.” She spared her a smile. “It was nice to have you here for this.”

Lena gave her a soft grin and leaned in, taking Webby’s hand lightly in her own. “I had fun. I’ll see you soon, ‘kay?”

And then she leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Webby’s beak. It was light and quick, but still managed to shock the anxiety right out of her body, sending a tingly rush down her spine. Webby felt her eyelids flutter a bit, and she moved her eyes up to meet Lena’s, almost feeling as though she were about to fall inside of them.

The moment quickly broke, though, with a series of interjections from the peanut gallery.

“Ewwwwww!” Dewey called, covering his eyes. “Noooo, gross! Ewwww!”

“Boo! Three out of ten!” Louie jeered, putting his thumb down. “Is that the best you’ve got? I’ve seen better kisses in WattPad Swan Direction fics!”

“Awwww, are you in _loooooooove?”_ Huey cooed, clasping his hands together next to his head. “Do you _liiiiiiike_ each other? Are you _daaaaaating?”_

“Ewwwwwwwww!” Dewey continued to wail.

Lena gave Webby a flat look, not even so much as turning her head in their direction. “Yeah, so, I think I’ll head out.”

Webby giggled. “Sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The great art of Lena's fakeout was done by [vandebright](https://vandebright.tumblr.com/) over on tumblr! Go check em out!


	14. Long Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumors spread.

Lena groaned as the sunlight slammed against her eyelids through the blinds, like a battering ram breaking through a stone wall. She writhed under the covers for a few minutes, then slithered out of bed, collapsing into a pile on the floor. She scratched and clawed her way to the door, and moaned as she stood up, her lethargic body walking into the bright hallway like a person doused in gasoline might walk into a burning building. She stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, a woman on a mission, blind to all that surrounded her.

“Good morning, Lena,” Violet greeted cheerily from the table, halfway through a grilled cheese sandwich. 

“Hhhhrrrrrggggg,” Lena replied

“Well said.” Violet took a bite. “Care to join me for lunch?”

“Are you fucking actually having fucking lunch right now?” Lena rasped, the words like gravel as they left her still-asleep throat. “I literally fucking hate you so much.”

Violet gave her a look. It was very subtly different from her usual look in a way that ticked Lena off. “It’s eleven-thirty. You know that, right?”

“Literally shut your fuck,” Lena said, stalking over to the fridge. She practically ripped the door straight off, hand lurching towards the container of chocolate milk sitting on the top shelf. She twisted the cap off with lethal force, and poured a stream of the liquid into her beak, years of practice ensuring that she didn’t spill a single drop. 

Instantly feeling much more like a living person instead of some sort of undead slime creature, Lena replaced the chocolate milk and swung the fridge closed, then walked over to the pantry, ripping open a pack of pop tarts and shoving one unceremoniously into her gaping maw.

“Perhaps you’d like to sit down,” Violet suggested.

“Mmm fmm hrrrg,” Lena said through the pop tart.

“You raise a good point,” Violet said, “but, really, I insist.”

Lena rolled her eyes, but sat down at the table, managing to swallow down the rest of the snack without choking. “Alright, I’m sitting. Happy?” She went for a more modest bite this time as she started in on the second pop tart. 

“Quite.” Violet sipped at her water. “You know, dearest sister—”

“Oh, god.” It was never a good sign when Vi started saying shit like ‘dearest sister.’

“—I do sincerely hope, with all my heart, that when Webby first sees the way you act in the mornings, I am present to bear witness.”

“Ha ha,” Lena said. “I’ll have you know I’m very capable of being pleasant when I wake up. You’re just not worth the effort.”

“You can’t lie to her forever, Lena,” Violet warned. “And once she sees you chugging chocolate milk like some sort of chocolate-vampire, there’s no going back.”

“Count Chocula,” Lena said. “You’re thinking of Count Chocula. And for the record, I’m offended.”

Violet hummed, clearly not very bothered by any slights she may have delivered. “Right, well. Anyway. I’m glad you brought up Webby, because I have something to speak with you about.”

Lena frowned. “You’re the one who brought up Webby.”

“Details. Anyway, you’ll want to look at this.”

She slid her phone across the table, and Lena picked it up, munching at her pop tart. She caught sight of the  _ Waiting in the Wingz _ banner at the top of the screen and groaned. 

“Another article from that gaming magazine Wingz runs? Do you seriously read this crap?”

“Not unless the stories are about my immediate family members, no.”

Lena groaned again but this time with more despair. “Seriously?”

“Dead seriously,” Violet said, nodding towards the phone. “See for yourself.”

**_A Budding On-Stream Romance? Rumors Circulate About a Possible ‘SpiderShadow’ Relationship After Face Reveal Stream_ **

_ By Geoffrey Shortfeather _

_ SpiderWebby, one of the leading streamers on Wingz.tv, has never shown her face — until yesterday, that is. Her face reveal stream, featuring her streaming partner ShadowGirl, racked up over fifteen thousand viewers at its peak. But while most SpiderWebby fans were excitedly complimenting their favorite streamer, clipping highlights, and compiling gifsets, a certain section of the community began to suspect that SpiderWebby and ShadowGirl had something  _ more _ going on. _

_ The source of these suspicions stems from a selfie a fan posted to her Ternblr after running into ShadowGirl in the street. According to her, Shadow was with a friend at the time, and they were holding hands. After the face reveal stream, the fan who took the selfie confirmed that Shadow’s ‘friend’ was, in fact, SpiderWebby herself. _

_ ShadowGirl posted a tweet not long after the initial selfie was uploaded claiming that the outing wasn’t a date, but fans are beginning to get suspicious. The two have been ‘shipped’ together for a while now as an ongoing joke within their fanbase, and on their streams, they and their costreamers frequently make cracks about it themselves; but just by browsing the #SpiderShadow tags on Twitter and Ternblr, it’s clear that there’s certainly a dedicated subcommunity that very much does not view the prospect of the two streamers dating as merely a joke. _

Lena stopped there, sliding the phone back to Violet. “Oh, god, I can’t read this. Why would Wingz even report on this?”

“Because people will click on it,” Violet said matter-of-factly.

“I  _ guess. _ I’m just worried about how Webby will react if this gets back to her.”

“She’s been a popular streamer with a cult following for a while now. I’m sure she’s used to people prying into her life like this.” She paused, observing Lena. “What about you? Does it bother you?”

“Eh, not really,” Lena said. “I mean, they’re right. Good on them for having an actually correct conspiracy theory, I suppose. I think I’m still at that point where I’m just kind of flattered that people care so much? I don’t know, being a C tier internet celebrity is weird.”

“I can only imagine,” Violet said. Then the doorbell rang. “Ah, that would probably be Huey.”

“Huey? What’s he doing here?”

“Our book club,” Violet said, getting up. “Remember? I informed you of this yesterday.”

“Uhhh. Right. Yeah, yeah, I remember.” 

Lena did not remember. She got up and tried to sneak through the hallway back to the stairs before Huey came in and saw her in her pajamas and bedhead, but she was interrupted by a call from Violet from the front door. “Lena? You should come down here.”

Lena sighed, but complied, walking over towards the front of the house. Her eyes widened as she saw not only Huey hanging out in the door frame, but Webby as well.

“Webby?” Lena asked. “Wait, are you in the nerd club too?”

“Hey,” Huey mumbled.

“No, I—” Webby swallowed. “Lena, we need to talk.”

* * *

Lena opened the door to her room and flicked on the lights, flopping onto her bed. Webby followed her in, hands wringing together, eyes flicking twitchily around the room, looking as though she were expecting someone to burst through the window and attack at any moment. Lena was practically getting second-hand nerves from it.

“So,” Lena said, breaking the tension. “I take it this is about that  _ Waiting in the Wingz _ article?”

Webby nodded, letting out a huff and beginning to pace frustratedly around Lena’s carpet. “Yes! I can’t believe them! I mean, with WingzCon coming up soon, you’d think they’d have  _ real _ news to report on, but  _ apparently _ they’re just a tabloid now, and only care about—ooh, nice lava lamp—and only care about stirring up  _ stupid drama!” _

“Us dating is ‘stupid drama?’”

“No, but all these rumors about us are!” Webby groaned, slumping down next to Lena on the bed. “We need a plan.”

“A plan to do what, exactly?” Lena asked, leaning back on her palms and turning to look at Webby. “Are you gonna deny it? This is a bit more delicate when the rumors are  _ true.” _

“I-I mean, I don’t want to  _ lie,” _ Webby said, looking conflicted. “I just don’t want all this attention on our relationship, you know? It’s supposed to be private.”

“Well… I think it’s like you said. The fact that we’re dating isn’t what’s causing all the drama, it’s the  _ rumors. _ People love playing the detective about it, but if we just come out and confirm it—”

“Lena, no,” Webby interrupted with a frown.

Lena tossed out a hand. “Why not? Sure, they’ll be a burst of attention on us after we do, but it’ll go away pretty fast after everyone says their two cents about it. If we continue to try and keep it secret, people will keep scrutinizing us and theorizing and pestering us. If you want people to drop it, you’ve gotta rip the bandaid off.”

“Lena, I—I’m not ready.”

Lena sighed. “Well, then I don’t know what to tell you. We’re not swimming in options here, Pink.”

“If I’m being honest, I don’t really get how you can be so comfortable going public like that,” Webby said, looking at the floor. “Here I am scared out of my mind, and you’re just so… confident.”

“I’m, uh, I don’t know. I guess I just don’t mind being in the public eye as much. Maybe I’m naive.”

“No, I don’t think it’s naive,” Webby said. “I  _ do _ think it’s brave, though.”

“Well, it’s also… hmm.” Lena paused, thinking over her words. “I know that we’ve only been on, like, one date, but you’re really special, Webby. You make everything so much brighter. I guess it’s just that I’m, I don’t know, I’m  _ proud _ of what we have. If anything, I  _ want _ to share it: look at my amazing girlfriend! You know?”

“Hey, I’m proud of our relationship too! I’m just…” She trailed off.

“Okay, but, like, are you?” Lena asked when Webby failed to complete the thought. “At first you were trying to hide that you even had a crush on me, then you were trying to hide our date from your family—your grandmother told me that apparently you hadn’t even told her you were going to miss  _ dinner— _ and now you want to hide it from our viewers. Is… dating me really  _ that _ embarrassing for you?”

“No!” Webby exclaimed, eyes going wide. “No, Lena, that isn’t it at all. It’s the opposite of that! I feel the same way about you, you know; you’re really, really special to me too. You’re my best friend. The triplets… They’re great, but they already had their own thing going on even before we met. I fit into it pretty well by now, but still, it’s hard to compete when they’re  _ literally _ triplets. And all our other friends are closer to one of them than they are to me.

“But you and me, our relationship, it’s… it feels different. It’s  _ mine. _ My secret little Webby thing. I don’t have many of those anymore. So it’s not that I’m  _ ashamed, _ it’s that I’m… selfish, I suppose. I don’t want us to be a big official thing that everyone knows about, I want us to be dates that we sneak out to go on, and little kisses that we steal when we don’t think anyone’s looking, and hands held under the tablecloth because we think we’re being stealthy, but Louie and Violet are shooting us knowing looks from across the table.” She let out a wistful sigh. “But, again, I know that’s selfish. This  _ isn’t _ just my thing—it’s yours too. I’m being stupid, and unrealistic, and I’m just making everything more complicated than it needs to be. I’m sorry.”

“It’s… It’s okay,” Lena said after a second, voice quiet. She inched her hand across the covers and took Webby’s. “I think I understand where you’re coming from. Thanks for telling me how you feel.”

Webby flopped against Lena’s side, and Lena felt her snuggling up against the feathers on her neck. She could feel her breaths, long and slow, pulsing against her side.

“A long time ago,” Webby said, “I wanted to go out and explore the city. Granny told me that sometimes I think with my heart instead of my head, and it leads me to make the wrong decision.”

“Yeah?” Lena hummed. “And what did you say?”

“I said it must be genetic,” Webby answered, wrapping an arm around Lena. “Then I ran out the door.”

“I’ll be Tea Time  _ loved _ that.”

Webby giggled. “Oh, yeah. She found me terrorizing some cashier in a corner store and took my electronics away for a week. But even if she was being a hypocrite, I think she had a point. I’m not like Huey or Louie; they’re problem-solvers. In very different ways, of course, but give either of them enough time, and they’ll think their way out of anything. And Dewey—well, he just jumps right in, and seems to make it work no matter  _ what _ happens. I don’t have that kind of confidence, though. I don’t have Huey’s logic, either, or Louie’s ingenuity. I just… follow my heart. My heart’s pretty awesome, so I do alright, but sometimes it gets confused. And then I’m just lost.” She sighed. “I have no idea what I’m doing, Lena. If you think going public would be best, then you’re probably right.”

“It would be the easiest solution,” Lena said. “If I’m being honest, though, I don’t really care too much what we do. I only suggested that because all these rumors seemed to be stressing you out, and that would be the quickest way to get them to stop. If your heart’s telling you that we shouldn’t go forward with it, then I think we should trust that.”

Another few seconds of silence. Lena drew Webby in closer.

“Okay,” Webby said. “As long as you’re cool with it. That puts us back at square one, though. Where do we go from here? I don’t want to lie to my fans, either.”

Lena smirked. “Well, I don’t think you have to  _ lie _ to them. Maybe just… tease them a little.”

Webby finally turned at that, her wide eyes meeting Lena’s. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you know. Push the envelope a little on how we act with each other. Dodge some questions. Sprinkle in some more moments on stream for those Top Ten SpiderShadow Moments videos on YouTube. But we  _ never _ confirm or deny anything concrete about our relationship until we’re ready to come out with the full story. Make it just ambiguous enough that they can’t tell whether we’re genuinely oblivious, playing up the bit, or actually together.” Lena shrugged. “If you want us to be hands held under the table and stolen kisses, I’m down. Let’s lean into it.”

Webby snickered. “Isn’t that a little mean?”

“Well, maybe it’s a  _ little _ bit mean,” Lena said. “But I think the community would get a kick out of it. They seem to be having a lot of fun with it already—why not have a little fun with it ourselves, you know? As long as we shut people down if they start going too far, it should be okay.”

“I…” Webby let out another bright giggle. “This isn’t a plan, Lena, this is a  _ scheme. _ A scheme! I’m scared of what would happen if you and Louie ever tried to plan something together.”

“I would never work with him,” Lena said resolutely. “He’s an evil little gremlin boy. My least favorite Duck triplet.”

“Oh?” Webby said, smiling curiously up at her. “Which one’s your favorite?”

“Dewey,” Lena answered without hesitation. “He’s just a funky little dude. Look at him go.”

“Lenaaaaa!” Webby whined, collapsing into her lap with laughter. “God, I can’t believe you. Don’t  _ ever _ tell Dewey that, by the way. It’ll go straight to his head and that’s big enough as it is.”

“They all kind of have big heads,” Lena mused. “Or maybe just small bodies?”

“I think it’s small bodies,” Webby said, desperately reigning in her frantic giggling. “You should see their baby photos.”

“Ohhh, you have  _ got _ to show me those sometime. Preferably while they’re around to complain.”

Webby sat up again, reclaiming Lena’s hand, which had been lost somewhere along the way. “Absolutely.”

“You feeling better?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Lena.”

And then it was Webby’s turn to give Lena a quick peck, leaning in with her beak before Lena knew what was happening. Lena was taken aback, blood rushing to her cheeks, but just as she was starting to register the feel of Webby’s beak against hers, Webby backed away. She was smiling at Lena in a way that was simultaneously bashful, mischievous, and proud, and once Lena’s brain booted back up, she felt an uncontrollable smile break out across her face.

“Oh, well, come on, Pink,” Lena said. “Now you’re just leaving me wanting more.”

“Good,” Webby replied, leaning in, “because I’ve got more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Updates to this fic might slow a tad as I'm also concurrently working on my [new Lena time travel fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29027421/chapters/71245044), but I'm not gonna stop with this or anything. Thanks for bearing with!


	15. Place Your Bets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Webby and Lena get a little competitive.

Lena walked out of the movie theatre hand-in-hand with Webby, tossing out the empty popcorn bucket into a nearby trash can as they went. A new horror movie, Terror of the Terrafirmians, had come out earlier in the week, and since Webby and Lena both liked horror films, and both loved excuses to go on dates, they’d booked tickets. 

“You know, that wasn’t really as scary as I thought it would be,” Lena said as they stepped out onto the road.

Webby nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I kind of see what they were going for with the monster designs, but I feel like those little dudes would work a lot better as some kind of lost underground civilization that’s been misunderstood and vilified by the land dwellers, which is what keeps them confined to the subways, instead of just using them as some cheap murder monsters.”

Lena raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this, huh?”

“I’m just  _ saying,” _ Webby stressed, splaying out her free hand. “If  _ I _ were directing that movie, they would’ve all become friends at the end, and Alice and one of the Terrafirmians would’ve fallen in love and kissed.”

Lena’s eyebrow climbed higher. “This has suddenly turned into a very different movie.”

“But, no, look, it makes sense! Remember how Alice was so excited to discover a rare and lost creature, and how she was constantly fighting with Stuart about whether or not the Terrafirmians even existed? She was so hopeful and optimistic! She  _ totally _ would’ve kissed one if they were friendly.”

“I guess I can see it. Heh, she reminded me of you a little,” Lena said, swinging Webby’s hand.

Webby laughed. “Well, then that makes you Roxanne for sure. All that aloof, snarky coolness that gives way to someone who’s genuine and would risk her life for her friends… That’s Lena for sure. And Stuart would be—”

“Huey,” Lena said immediately.

Webby nodded. “Yeah, definitely Huey.”

They walked down to the end of the block before Lena asked, “Hey, where are we even going?”

“Oh, uh.” Webby stalled. “I was kind of following you?”

“We’re extremely good at dates,” Lena said. “Um… Ice cream?”

Webby smiled. “You really know a way to a girl’s heart, don’t you?”

“Especially if that girl is the one paying,” Lena said with a wink.

“Well, there are some perks of being related to the richest duck in the world,” Webby said with a giggle.

They reached the ice cream shop in short order, and repeated their orders from their first date, except this time they decided to sit down in the shop as they ate.

“I’m thinking of doing my first proper facecam stream tomorrow,” Webby said as she bit (yes, bit) into her ice cream.

“Nice,” Lena said. “I’ve got nothing going on. I probably would’ve streamed tomorrow anyway.”

Webby nodded. “Okay, good. The boys are going to be gone all day with their mom and uncle visiting family, so I thought it’d be a good time to test it out. But also, I don’t want to stream completely by myself, you know?”

“Well, I’m totally down,” Lena said. “You’re not going with your brothers, though?”

“Oh, well—they invited me, of course, but I just… I don’t know. None of the people they’re going to visit even know me. It just feels kind of weird, you know?”

Lena nodded. “I do know, actually. Like, my dads are definitely my dads, you know? But even now, I’m not sure my grandparents really feel like my grandparents. Or maybe everyone feels that way about extended family, I—I wouldn’t really know. Visiting with them definitely makes me feel a lot more  _ adopted _ than I usually do, though.”

“Yeah,” Webby said. “Yeah, exactly.”

Lena let the silence settle for a couple seconds before asking, “So, early afternoon as usual?”

“Mmhmm,” Webby confirmed. “Probably a bit after one.”

Lena smiled. “I’ll be there.”

* * *

Webby double-checked that everything on her stream was good to go, then adjusted her face cam, brushing a stray lock of hair back underneath her headphones. Once she was sure everything was ready, she pressed the button to switch from the pre-stream overlay to the live feed.

“Helloooo!” she greeted, settling into her chair as a slew of welcoming messages flooded the chat. “So, as you can see, this is going to be the first facecam stream! Red, Blue, and Green aren’t able to make it today, so I thought it would be a good time to test things out.”

**_CactalHeart:_ ** _ FACECAM :dogchamp: _ _  
_ **_GlaxxyYT:_ ** _ are those cat ear headphones :webbylaugh: :webbylaugh: _ _  
_ **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _ omg hi!!! U look great! _

“ShadowGirl should be joining us, though! It’ll be a girls’ night. I think she’s—oh, yep, there we go,” Webby said as she accepted an incoming Disbird call from Lena. “Hi, Lena?”

“Are those cat ear headphones?” Lena said immediately.

**_Axeltak:_ ** _ lmaooooo _ _  
_ **_Kangarooz:_ ** _ Webby… confirmed furry?? :greenthinking: _

“They are!” Webby said, smirking. “Is there a problem?”

“Oh, not at all,” Lena said. “You look cute.”

“Aww, thanks, Lena.”

**_WebbyFan11:_** _SHE LOOKS CUTE HUH???_ _  
_**_Hullabear:_** _:greenthinking: :greensmirk: :greenthinking:_ _  
_**_BestJess:_** _smh yall jump at anything huh_

“You look cute today, too,” Webby added.

“I literally look the same as I always do,” Lena said.

“Exactly.” Webby invited Lena to her party and queued up for a game. “So, how’ve you been doing?”

**_TetheredUmbra:_ ** _ DKSFJSDFD WAIT WAIT _ _  
_ **_Hellranger:_ ** _ :webbylaugh: wow theyre fucking with us hard rn _ _  
_ **_UnicornMagic:_ ** _ OMG IM?? _

“Well, I’m not gonna lie, the Warlock nerf this patch has been really putting me through it,” Lena said.

“Ohh, right, I’d forgotten about that. They lowered her heal?”

“She still heals the same amount, actually, but she regens over ten seconds now instead of five,” Lena explained. “So it’s a lot harder to chain kill with her now.”

**_Namele55:_ ** _ In the patch notes they said it was to address the warlock spawncamp strat _ _  
_ **_CactalHeart:_ ** _ honestly wild that they went after warlock before nerfing priest hes broke af :redfacepalm: _

“Better step it up, then, or I’m gonna out-frag you,” Webby said.

“Oh, the nerfs weren’t  _ that _ bad,” Lena said. “I should still get more kills than you as per usual.”

Webby laughed. “Really? Keep an eye on the scoreboard, then, pretty girl, and we’ll see just how well that holds up, huh?”

**_Frogman7:_ ** _ oh boy here we go jkahdfhasdgfdf _ _  
_ **_Axolottimus:_ ** _ Pretty girl?!?!?!?!? _ _  
_ **_NeonSunrise:_ ** _ kick her ASS webby :redangry: _

They found a match, and as they each chose their heroes, Lena made a thoughtful humming sound. “Well, you sound awfully confident. Wanna make it official and put five dollars on it?”

“Oh, now you’re talking,” Webby said, her grin growing a bit mischievous. “But five bucks sounds a little boring, you know?”

**_JadedSky:_ ** _ oh? :eyes: _ _  
_ **_Axeltak:_ ** _ jksdkgsdjhfsd oh god this is gonna be a shitshow and im so here for it _

“I’m not exactly making the big bucks over here, Webs,” Lena said. “I can’t really go higher than, like, twenty, max.”

“No, no, I meant, like, something other than money,” Webby said as they loaded into the map. They were on the attacking side to start, so she ran around the spawn room, idly firing arrows into the walls as they waited for the defense to get set up. “If we’re going to do this we need to farm some content out of it, you know? Money’s too boring.”

Lena laughed. “Pff. Well, okay, what did you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking,” Webby said. “Maybe we can have chat decide?”

“That sounds like a terrible idea.”

**_Slipstrider:_ ** _ oh my goddddd XD _ _  
_ **_Beatwix:_ ** _ NO its a great idea sdfsdksdagd _

“Well, I mean, obviously we would have veto rights,” Webby said. “How about we let some people tip us suggestions, and if they’re reasonable, we can have chat vote on the good ones?”

“You know what? Sure,” Lena said. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this, but sure.”

“Hey, it was your idea to make it a bet,” Webby said as the doors finally opened, and their team burst out towards the giant temple that served as the main battleground for this map. Webby immediately grappled up into a high open window, pulling back the string of her bow and scanning for targets. She caught sight of the enemy Mage hiding out behind a pile of rubble, and she loosed the arrow, easily finding his head and downing him. She nocked another arrow and turned to where the main fighters on her team were engaging with the enemy Druid and Barbarian, and she managed to hit the Barbarian in the chest, but not kill him. 

And then Lena’s character poofed into existence behind the fight, easily finishing Barbarian off, and the resulting wraith that spawned instantly sought out the Druid, who Lena cleaned up as well.

“Thanks for the assist, Pink!” Lena said, cackling as she disappeared back into the shadows, no doubt to seek out more enemies closer to the capture point. 

“Killstealer,” Webby muttered as she jumped from her vantage point and grappled over to the next, determined to keep up with Lena. It turned out to be an irrelevant point, however, as Lena was soon killed by the enemy Werecat. 

“Dammit,” she said. “He snuck up on me.”

Webby smirked, and positioned her crosshair on the doorway that led to the chamber where Lena had died. Sure enough, Werecat came running out, and Webby managed to nail her right in the hind leg, finishing her off and evening the score.

“Ooh, okay, I’ve got my first tip,” Lena said. “Thank you Aoma for the five dollars, and they say, ‘loser has to dye their hair a color of the winner’s choice.’”

“Oh, god,” Webby said, laughing. “I think that’s a good one, actually, but jeez, I better not lose this.” 

Lena laughed. “Well, I’m sure we’ll get other suggestions. Who knows if chat will pick that one.”

Webby continued to hold her position, waiting for the enemy to show themselves. Sure enough, the Mage that Webby had killed early on started running out to stop the incoming push from Webby’s team, and Webby instantly nailed him in the head again, causing him to say some choice words in the text chat.

But then, she heard the unmistakable and terrible sound of getting caught by Barbarian’s hook ability, and her camera jerked around as he yanked her through the air and slammed her into the ground. Her meager health pool and slow, long-ranged weapon didn’t stand a chance against Barbarian’s axe, and she quickly found herself waiting to respawn. She took the opportunity to glance back at chat.

**_Hellranger:_ ** _ lmao that mage is so butthurt :webbylaugh: _ _  
_ **_Arch3rmain:_ ** _ yooo nice shot _ _  
_ **_$5 tip from UnicornMagic:_ ** _ maybe the loser has to go to WingzCon in full cosplay of their main? _ _  
_ **_Hullabear:_ ** _ nooo the hook :sadcat: _

“Okay, I’ve got five dollars from UnicornMagic, who suggests that the loser has to go to WingzCon in full cosplay of her Aberrae hero. Thanks for the tip!”

“Ooh, that’s a good one,” Lena said, even as she picked up a kill onto the enemy Thief. “I don’t think I’d mind that too much. I think the whole dark sorceress look would suit me, you know?” 

Webby pictured it in her mind, and then had to stop picturing it, because if chat saw her blushing right now she knew they would never let her live it down. “Yeah, I’d bet you’d look great,” she said simply.

She respawned and ran back towards the fight. Thanks to their early kills, their team had already pushed onto the first capture point, and a giant team fight was taking place. Webby grappled up onto a half-broken pillar that overlooked the point, and haphazardly fired her Acid Arrow ability into the middle of the fray, managing to pick up a kill onto a low-health Druid in the process. It was hard to pick out targets in the crowd, but she fired into it anyway, and the hit confirmation sound rang out a few times as she connected with  _ something, _ at least, but none of her shots turned into proper kills.

She scowled as Lena somehow managed to find two kills from hanging out at the enemy spawn before finally being dealt with by the enemy Mage—so much for nerfing Warlock’s spawn camping—and then scowled even further as Thief landed a backstab on her, taking her down to twenty HP and easily finishing her off with his daggers.

“Oh, no!” Lena said with mock sympathy as their team finally captured the point. “Are you  _ losing, _ Webby? Who could have seen this coming?”

“Hey, I’m only losing by one! I’m coming for you,” Webby threatened. She glanced over as a donation notification popped up. “Thank you Webby fan eleven for the five dollars! They say, uh…” Webby narrowed her eyes as she read the donation message. “They suggest that the loser has to take the winner out on a date. Okay, so, I’m not sure we’re gonna use that one.”

“Yeah, that’s not fair,” Lena said. “Webby comes out on top either way. You know, because of her massive crush on me?”

_ “LENA!” _ Webby shrieked. Well, so much for hiding her blush. “I—you—” 

Lena let out a cackle. “Oh, wow, I’m gonna need to watch this vod back just for your face.”

“Shut up,” Webby mumbled.

**_CactalHeart:_** _LMAO :webbylaugh:_ __  
**_Jagaclaga:_** _DSKJFSDFH SHES RUTHLESS_ _  
_**_Axeltak:_** __okay but she didnt deny it tho :greenthinking:

“Wait, I just got a good one,” Lena said as she respawned. “Ten dollars from Naomi77, thank you! They say that the loser should have to write and sing an original song about how much better the winner is at video games.”

“Oh, god,” Webby said, letting out a giggle. “This is gonna be a disaster no matter what, huh? I guess it’s too late to back out now, though.”

“Definitely too late,” Lena agreed. “But if you’re so worried, you should just win the bet, right?”

“Maybe I’m worried for your sake, Lena,” Webby fired back. She respawned a couple seconds later, and took off after Lena, charging towards the final capture point. 

“Aww. That’s sweet.”

“What can I say? I have a soft spot for cute girls.”

“Not in a gay way, though, right?” Lena asked.

“Definitely not,” Webby said. “You and I are the galest of pals.”

They both broke into laughter, and Webby saw chat flying by out of the corner of her eye, but she had to focus on the game. The fight for the final point was gruesome, and Webby quickly started losing track of all the kills that were being traded back and forth. But eventually, they managed to take the point, with a solid forty-five seconds left on the clock. 

As the teams switched sides, another donation came in. “Alright, we’ve got five dollars from Neon Sunrise. Thanks! And they say, the winner gets control of the loser’s twitter for a day. Oh, no.”

Lena snorted. “That’s a good one.”

“Okay, I’m quickly going to set up a strawpoll and drop it in the chat,” Webby said, opening up another tab and typing as fast as her fingers would let her. “No more suggestions. And Lena, you have to stay in spawn until I’m ready, okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” Lena said. “You’ve got thirty seconds until setup ends. Close game, by the way.”

“Really?” Webby asked as she created the poll, copying the link. “I haven’t had a chance to look at the scoreboard.”

“I’m at 19 kills, and you’re at 17.”

“Shoot, that  _ is _ close,” Webby said. “Archer is way better on defense anyway. I should be able to run it back.”

“We’ll see,” Lena said confidently.

“Alright, the poll is up, everyone,” Webby said as she posted the link in chat. “You’ve got until the end of the match to vote.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no clue what I'm doing with this story anymore, I'm just doing whatever I think will be fun, but that also means I have no idea when updates are gonna come. Hope y'all are down for a ride with me akjsdgjsahfd


	16. Do It for the Content

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone loses a bet.

Webby pulled up the scoreboard as she waited to respawn. There were thirty seconds left on the clock, the score was tied, and Webby had never felt more tense in her life.

“What happens if we tie?” Lena asked. “Should we go with most assists wins?”

“Well, I have more assists than you, so sounds good to me,” Webby said.

“Shit, do you?”

“No take backs!” Webby said quickly, finally respawning and rushing back out towards the point.

“Good thing it won’t be a tie, then, I guess,” Lena said as she got a kill onto the enemy Druid.

Webby swore, grappling up onto a ledge that overlooked the point. She managed to score a headshot onto the Mage, but just as she evened things up again, Lena finished off their Werecat, putting her ahead once again. That meant there was only one member of the enemy team alive—their Priest—and if Webby didn’t kill him, she lost. Fortunately, though, according to the killfeed, he’d just taken out their team’s Dragonkin, which meant that he was in the chamber of the temple just in front of Webby. She could already see Lena making her way over; she had to hurry.

She leapt from the ledge and grappled forward, launching herself through the archway and into the room. But just as she caught sight of her quarry, she heard the unmistakable call of  _ “Succumb to the shadows!” _ as Lena used her secret technique, and suddenly Priest was enshrouded in a hazy black mist.

And then he started running away.

“NO!” Webby screamed, firing her arrow. It missed. “Lena, are you serious?! You took control of him just to stop me from killing him?!”

“I’m moving him away from the objective,” Lena said, but Webby could hear the smirk in her voice. “I’m being a dutiful teammate.”

“NOOOOO!” Webby shouted, desperately chasing after Priest as he retreated deeper into the temple. The mind control wore off after a few seconds, but by the time Webby was able to line up another shot, the timer had expired, and the announcer called the game. They’d won, but Webby had lost.

“Aww, were you not able to beat me?” Lena said. “How tragic. If only you’d been able to kill that Priest to tie things up.”

“I hate you!” Webby said, groaning and leaning back in her chair. “Nooooooo, I hate you so much! I can’t  _ believe _ you pulled something like that!”

“Hey, all’s fair in love and war,” Lena said. “Chat can theorize on which one this is.”

“Lena!”

Lena just snickered. “So. What’s the verdict for the poll?”

“I haven’t looked yet,” Webby moaned, covering her eyes. “I don’t want to knoooooow.”

Lena kept snickering like the evil horrible girlfriend she was. “C’mon, Pink. How bad could it be?”

“Ughhhhh,” Webby said, sitting back up. She finally looked at chat, for the first time in a while—she’d been very focused on the game.

**_Hellranger:_** _LMAOOOOO THAT WAS DIRTYYYY_ _  
_ ** _NeonSunrise:_** _nooooooooo :redangry: :redangry:_ _  
_ ** _Tentablue is a new subscriber_** ** _  
_** ** _Unicornmagic:_** _wonder what color Lena’s gonna choose XD_ _  
_ ** _GlaxxyYT:_** _OMG LENA… NO WAYYYYY :webbylaugh:_ _  
_ ** _Cactalheart:_** _WEBBY HAIR DYE :deweypumped: IM ACTUALLY SO EXCITED DJFKJGFDSF_ _  
_ ** _$5 from Hullabear:_** _I’m sorry for your loss :pensive:_

“Oh, god, according to chat, hair dye won,” Webby said, at which Lena immediately started cackling. “Thank you for the sub Tentablue, welcome to the web. And thanks for the tip Hullabear, I appreciate the condolences. Stop laughing, Shadow!”

“But it’s really funny!” Lena insisted. “What if—pff—what if I said yellow or something?”

Webby leaned in close to her mic. “Shadow, if you say yellow, I will break into your house and kill you in your sleep.”

**_Arch3rMain:_ ** _ :webbylaugh: OMGGGG _ _   
_ **_Axeltak:_ ** _ YELLOW NOOOOOO SDHFKJDFSHDGKDHSF _

Lena laughed harder. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna say yellow. I’m not  _ that _ mean. How do you feel about purple?”

Webby considered it. “Purple?”

“Yeah. I think it’d look cute on you.”

**_Webbyfan11:_** _no no no, pink!! It should be pink!!!_ _  
_ ** _Jagaclaga:_** _hmmmm :greenthinking: :greenthinking: this could slap actually_ _  
_ ** _JadedSky:_** _oh itd look cute on her huh? :eyes: :greensmirk:_

“I suppose I could do purple,” Webby said, letting out a sigh. “Alright. Purple it is then.”

“Great!” Lena said. “Y’all know what’s happening next stream, then!”

Webby laughed. “Wait, wait, we’re streaming it?”

“Oh, of  _ course _ we’re streaming it,” Lena said. “C’mon, Pink. It’s free content!”

“Alright, alright,” Webby said, queuing them up for another match. “God, the boys are gonna have a field day with this when they find out what happened.”

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna look great,” Lena assured. “Besides, you gotta have a fresh style for WingzCon, you know?”

“Yes, Shadow, thank you for reminding me that my first major public appearance will include purple hair,” Webby said, rolling her eyes. “You must be loving this, huh?”

“Oh, so much,” Lena said. “This is gonna be so good.”

“Ughhhhh, I forgot how  _ long _ this car ride is,” Dewey complained, slouching in his seat in the back of the van. “Couldn’t we have taken the plane?”

Della shot him a look in the rear-view mirror. “I don’t think our cousins have space in their driveway for a plane to land, Dewey. Be patient.”

“I  _ hate _ being patient,” Dewey mumbled, pulling out his phone. His brothers were being boring—Louie was playing some mindless game on his phone, and Huey was doing  _ homework _ of all things. Disgusting. He wished he could have stayed home and streamed with Webby instead.

Ooh, there was an idea. He put in his earbuds, and tried to pull up Webby’s stream, the cellular on the highway loading the page at an infuriatingly slow pace. Just as Dewey was about to give up, the stream began to play.

He watched for a few minutes, growing increasingly confused; they were talking about hair dye colors, but he wasn’t sure why, until—wait. His beak dropped open. “Oh. My. _ God.” _

* * *

**_Group DM: SpiderShadow CONFIRMED!!!!!! :dogchamp: :dogchamp: :flushed: :dogchamp: :lesbian_pride_flag: :two_women_kissing: :flushed: :flushed: :dogchamp:_ ** **(SpiderWebby, SeniorSeniorWoodchuck, JustDewIt, Pep4blood, ShadowGirl)**

_ JustDewIt: I JUST LOOKED AT THE STREAM???? EXCUSE ME????? _

_ Pep4blood: LMAOOOO please tell me that its true this would be so funny _ _   
_ _ Pep4blood: beakleys gonna FREAK if you suddenly have purple hair omg this is so good _

_ SpiderWebby: Guys I’m streaming rn!! Jhdkfagkdsjd _

_ JustDewIt: I KNOW UR STREAMING BUT THATS NO EXCUSE!! UR GONNA HAVE PURPLE HAIR????? _

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: I swear, we leave you two alone for ONE stream… _

_ ShadowGirl: lmfaoooooooooo  _ _   
_ _ ShadowGirl: no but guys shes gonna look amazing right _

_ JustDewIt: Lena you DONT understand she’s looked exactly the same for like six years _ _   
_ _ JustDewIt: The first time she wore her hair in a ponytail we thought the world was ending _

_ SpiderWebby: Okay, come on, I’ve changed my look up a lot since we met! _

_ Pep4blood: no hes right _ _   
_ _ Pep4blood: you grew your hair out and got like some shirts and skirts in other colors but thats it _ _   
_ _ Pep4blood: i support you and your purple hair tho _

_ SpiderWebby: No!! Don’t support it!!!! _ _   
_ _ SpiderWebby: Lena is forcing me to do it :( _

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: Didn’t you lose a bet? _ _   
_ _ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: That you agreed to? _ _   
_ _ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: And wasn’t it also your idea to open the stakes to a public vote from subscriber suggestions? _

_ Pep4blood: yeah this is totally on you webs _ _   
_ _ Pep4blood: hope u like purple _

_ JustDewIt: Hey did you just call us obnoxious?! The audio is really choppy over cellular but it SOUNDED like you just called us obnoxious _

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: Rude.  _

_ ShadowGirl: she’s fighting rn so she cant text but she wants me to say _ _   
_ _ ShadowGirl: yes she did call you obnoxious. because ur obnoxious  _

_ Pep4blood: hueys right, that’s rude _ _   
_ _ Pep4blood: webby why would you be so mean to your siblings _

_ ShadowGirl: she says she hates you _

_ JustDewIt: WOW I can’t believe this. I’m literally so offended _ _   
_ _ JustDewIt: I come in here to congratulate my sister on her brave new aesthetic decisions and this is the thanks I get? _ _   
_ _ JustDewIt: Every day. EVERY DAY I try to do nice things for my siblings and am spurned in reply. This family is so unloving; so cruel. _

_ SpiderWebby: Oh my GOD you guys!!!!! Aren’t you supposed to be visiting your cousins?!?!?!  _

_ Pep4blood: its a two and a half hour drive _

_ SpiderWebby: Okay well look I’ve got to stream I’ll see you tonight _ _   
_ _ SpiderWebby: We can talk then! _

_ SeniorSeniorWoodchuck: So, should we stop for some hair dye on the way back? _

_ SpiderWebby: NOT funny!! >:( _

_ Pep4blood: djsjdhskdjdjskhsdjhdskdh _

* * *

“You ready, Pink?” Lena asked the next day, grabbing the bowl where she’d had Dewey mix together the dye and developer. 

Webby was sitting in a low-backed chair, a towel wrapped around her shoulders, and a couple more spread across the floor just in case. Lena had pulled her hair into a few different sections for easy and even application, and the next step at this point was to start putting the dye in. Huey was manning the stream over by the computer, Dewey was on duty to assist Lena with whatever she needed, and Louie was sitting backwards in a spinny chair way back in the shot, rotating idly as he looked at his phone.

“No,” Webby answered. “I’m really not.”

“Aw, come on!” Dewey encouraged, a big smile on his face. “You’re gonna look great!”

“Chat thinks so too,” Huey said as he looked at the monitor. “We’ve got five dollars from unicorn magic, who says, ‘Purple time! I’m so excited!’”

Webby just sighed. “Thanks, unicorn. Alright, well, let’s get it over with.”

“Here we gooooo,” Lena said.

She began working the dye into Webby’s hair, one section at a time, and it slowly began to change color. Webby complained a little about how weird it felt, but overall she was being very patient.

“Why are people watching this?” Webby asked about halfway through, after Huey had announced a new subscriber. “Like—I’m glad, of course, but like, seriously? I’m literally sitting in a chair while Shadow runs colored goop through my hair.”

“This is good content, Webs,” Louie said from behind them. “People are attracted to the inherent absurdity of livestreaming something like this, which of course is complemented by our wonderful personalities and top tier sibling banter.”

“I just don’t understand,” Webby said. “How many viewers do we have right now, Red?”

“A bit over five thousand,” Huey said. “So lower than normal, but, yeah, still up there.”

“You’re all insane,” Webby concluded as Lena moved on to the final section of hair. “I hope you’re enjoying watching my hair become purple, at least.”

“I know I am,” Dewey said. “This is so good. I can’t wait to see what it actually looks like when it’s all done and everything.”

“Yooo, if we can get five hundred dollars in donations, we’ll dye her feathers purple too,” Louie called.

Lena laughed. “Oh my god.”

“No!” Webby shouted, and Lena could only imagine the restraint she was showing by not swiveling around to give Louie a death glare. “We are  _ not _ doing that under  _ any _ circumstances! Don’t give them ideas!”

“Yooo, if we can get five hundred dollars in donations, I’ll pull an epic prank on my sister by dyeing her feathers purple while she’s sleeping,” Louie went on.

“I’d like to see you  _ try, _ Green,” Webby hissed. “I sleep with a knife under my pillow. You pull anything, and you won’t have any feathers left at  _ all.” _

“I’m joking! I’m joking,” Louie said placatingly. “Would be funny, though.”

“It would  _ not _ be funny,” Webby insisted.

Dewey looked up at her concernedly. “Do… you actually sleep with a knife under your pillow?”

“Well, not  _ under _ my pillow,” Webby said. “That’s actually kind of dangerous. I keep it in the drawer of my nightstand.”

“Oh, okay, wow, you weren’t joking,” Lena mumbled. “That’s kinda metal, Pink.”

“Um… Thanks?” Webby shrugged. “Just a safety precaution. You don’t keep a weapon on hand?”

“If someone broke into our house, my Dads would win them over with baked goods, and then they wouldn’t want to steal anything anymore,” Lena said.

“I can second that,” Huey said. “I had some of their vanilla sable cookies one time and, wow. Heavenly.”

“Alright,” Lena said as she worked the dye through the last strands of Webby’s hair. “The application part is over. Now, you need to wait about thirty minutes before showering.”

“Again,” Webby said as Lena pulled a shower cap over her head to contain everything, “why are people still watching this? I’m literally just going to be sitting here for half an hour.”

“I’m sure we can find a way to pass the time,” Huey said.

“Yeah!” Dewey said enthusiastically. “We should play a game or something!”

“Ooh, good idea,” Louie said. “Maybe we should put a bet on it, too. Maybe let chat decide what the bet should be.”

“Green, I swear to god, I will lock you in the pantry overnight if you don’t stop,” Webby said.

Louie scoffed. “A weak threat. The pantry contains everything I need to survive.”

“I think we’ve got Uno around here or something?” Huey said.

Lena groaned. “Ugh, no, not Uno. Webby  _ always _ wins at Uno.”

“That’s silly, Shadow,” Webby said. “It’s mostly luck. There’s no way I could win all the time.”

“Fine,” Lena sighed, before pointing an accusing finger at the triplets. “But don’t blame me for what happens.”

Thirty minutes later, and Webby was happily chirping “Uno!” as she played down to her last card.

“I don’t understand,” Huey said in a somewhat panicked voice. “How are you doing this? This is going to be your fourth game in a row.”

“I  _ told _ you,” Lena grumbled from behind her fan of cards.

“Uh—reverse,” Dewey said, putting down a blue reverse card.

“SERIOUSLY, Blue?!” Louie called, throwing his hands up in outrage. “She has Uno and you’re giving her  _ another turn?!” _

“It was my only blue card!” Dewey protested in defense. “I had to!”

_ “WHAT _ are you talking about you literally have a green six you could have played!”

“Wh—” Dewey looked down at his hand. “NOOOOO! How did I not see that! And—wait, Green, how do you know I have that card?”

“You’re hand’s been open to me this whole time, dingus,” Louie said.

Dewey frowned. “Oh.”

“Well, it’s too late now,” Webby said as she laid down her final card, a blue eight. “Good game, guys!”

“No,” Lena said. “It’s a bad game. It’s a very bad game.”

“I don’t even  _ want  _ to know how statistically improbable this is,” Huey groused as he gathered up all the cards.

“Well, at least it’s over,” Lena said. “Time’s up, Pink. You need to go rinse. But keep the temperature low, and  _ don’t _ even  _ look _ at the shampoo, okay?”

Webby nodded. “Alright, got it. See you in a few!”

They were all silent for a few moments as she walked out, before Dewey spoke up. “I’m actually so excited,” he said. “She’s gonna look so cool.”

“And this is permanent dye, right?” Louie asked.

“Yep,” Lena said. “I asked her if she wanted to just do temporary dye, but she said she wanted permanent.”

“I think she’s actually pretty excited too,” Huey said. “You know, despite all the dramatic complaining.”

“You know she can watch this back, right?” Louie said, raising an eyebrow at Huey. “I wouldn’t want to be you if she hears you calling it ‘dramatic complaining’ behind her back.”

Huey just shrugged. “After the washing machine incident, I’m not sure how much further she can go.”

It wasn’t long before Webby returned. Her hair was down, framing her face, and her signature pink bow was back, pulling her hair from her eyes. The dye had turned out wonderfully—it was on the lighter side of purple, but not quite pastel, and it maintained some depth to it, making Webby’s hair look a lot fuller and drawing attention to its waves. 

“Well?” Webby asked.

It was then that Lena realized she was staring, and that the triplets were staring at  _ her _ in return, knowing looks on their faces. “Oh!” she said quickly. “It’s, um—wow, I mean, you look… amazing.”

Webby’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah!” Lena smiled. “I told you that you could pull it off, didn’t I? It looks beautiful on you.”

“Thanks,” Webby said, giving her a wide smile and a light giggle.

“Ew, gross, they’re flirting,” Louie said, rolling his eyes.

Webby threw the empty dye kit box at him, and he yelped.

“Webbyyyyyy, you look so cool!” Dewey said enthusiastically, running up to her and looking intently at her hair. “Woah… I mean, it’d be better if it were blue, but this is pretty good.”

“Yeah, it turned out great,” Huey said. “Chat loves it, by the way. It’s flying.”

“Well, I’m glad,” Webby said. “This would’ve been pretty bad if it ended up looking terrible.”

“Nah, you’re rocking it,” Louie said. “Think you like it enough to keep it?”

“What, you mean re-dye it once it starts growing out?” Webby hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ll have to see how I like it.”

They continued the stream for another fifteen minutes or so, then decided to call things there. Webby shut off the broadcast, and let out a sigh as she flopped down into the chair next to the computer.

“Whew. That went a lot better than I feared!”

“Certainly better than my first time trying to dye  _ my _ hair,” Lena said with a laugh. “God, that was baaaad.”

Webby giggled. “Oh, trust me, if I had done it myself this would’ve been a  _ disaster. _ Thanks for helping me out.”

“My pleasure, Pink.” 

Off to the side, Huey rolled his eyes. “You two  _ seriously _ need to turn down the flirting if you don’t want any more articles written about you.”

“Quiet, you,” Webby said.

Lena smirked. “Actually, we thought it’d be fun to get a bit bolder on stream. You know, tease chat a little. Stay on top of it, you know?”

“I respect the scheme,” Louie said, nodding his approval. “That’s actually really funny. What are you gonna do at WingzCon? It’s a Q&A, right?”

“Eh, we’ll figure something out,” Webby said. Then she turned to Lena, looking a bit nervous. “Hey, uh, I was wondering… Would you want to stay for dinner? It might be a good idea to actually tell the rest of my family that I, you know, have a girlfriend now. And to introduce her.”

“Mmm, things are getting serious, huh?” Lena joked. “But, yeah, I’d love to. Let me just text my Dads.”

“Sweet!” Webby said, face brightening. “I’ll go tell Granny!”

“Wait, Webby, you—aaaaand, she’s gone,” Huey said, letting out a sigh as she ran out of the room.

“What’s wrong?” Dewey asked.

“She already forgot that she just dyed her hair,” Huey said, bringing a hand up to his face. “And I’m pretty sure she never told Beakley we were doing this.”

“Oh, this’ll be good,” Louie said as he cracked open a Pep. Lena had no idea where it had come from. “Three, two, one, and…”

Louie took a slurp of his soda just as a powerful, hearty shriek ripped throughout the walls of the mansion. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you curious, Hair Dye won the poll over Cosplay by just two votes, 47 to 45. Thanks to everyone who voted! This experiment was very successful

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want, you can find me over at tumblr at [webby-vanderslap](https://webby-vanderslap.tumblr.com/).


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